Method and system for determining audience response to a sensory stimulus

• US 8,296,172 B2
• Filed: 09/05/2007
• Issued: 10/23/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 09/05/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nielsen Consumer LLC (Nielsen Holdings plc)
• Original Assignee: Innerscope Research, Inc. (Nielsen Holdings plc)
• Inventors: Marci, Carl D., Levine, Brian
• Primary Examiner(s): Loftis, Johnna
• Assistant Examiner(s): Parker, Brandi P
• Application Number:
  US11/850,650
• Publication Number:
  US 20080091512A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,875 Days
• Field of Search: 705/7.29
• US Class Current: 705/7.29
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0002 Remote monitoring of patients using telemetry, e.g. transmission of vital signals via a communication network A61B5/07 takes precedence; transmission systems for measured values G08C; transmission H04B; transmission of digital information H04L; wireless communication networks H04W
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/02405 Determining heart rate variability
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0533 Measuring galvanic skin response
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/08 Detecting, measuring or recording devices for evaluating the respiratory organs A61B5/0205 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/11 Measuring movement of the entire body or parts thereof, e.g. head or hand tremor, mobility of a limb for measuring pulse A61B5/02 ;A61B5/1038 takes precedence; motion detection to correct for motion artifacts in physiological signals A61B5/721
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/16 Devices for psychotechnics using teaching or educational appliances G09B1/00 - G09B7/00; Testing reaction times ; Devices for evaluating the psychological state
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/225 of the fingers, e.g. by monitoring hand-grip force
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/369 Electroencephalography [EEG] devices for psychotechnics A61B5/16
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6897 Computer input devices, e.g. mice or keyboards
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0201 Market modelling; Market analysis; Collecting market data
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0242 Determining effectiveness of advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/33 Arrangements for monitoring the users' behaviour or opinions

Abstract

The present invention is directed to a method and system for measuring the biologically based responses of an audience to a presentation that provides sensory stimulating experience and determining a measure of the level and pattern of engagement of that audience to the presentation. In particular, the invention is directed to a method and system for measuring one or more biologically based responses of one or more persons being exposed to the presentation in order to determine the moment-to-moment pattern and overall level of engagement. Further, the invention can be used to determine whether the presentation or the content in the presentation is more effective in a population relative to other presentations (or content) and other populations and to help identify elements of the presentation that contribute to the high level of engagement and the effectiveness and success of the presentation for that population.

Claims

1. A method of determining a measure of engagement of an audience for a presentation providing a sensory stimulus comprising:

exposing the audience to the presentation over a period of time, wherein said period of time is divided into two or more time slots;

providing a plurality of sensors, wherein the plurality of sensors measure a plurality of biologically based responses to said presentation for each member of the audience;

providing a computer processing system adapted for receiving data relating to the presentation and data from the plurality of sensors;

determining for each time slot at least one intensity value as a function of at least one of the measured biologically based responses;

determining for each time slot at least one synchrony value as a function of a rate of change of at least one of the measured biologically based responses, wherein the synchrony value represents a number of audience members with the same or similar biologically based response for the at least one measured biologically based response;

determining for each time slot at least one engagement value as a function of at least one of said intensity values and at least one synchrony value; and

comparing the at least one engagement value to a database comprising stored engagement values to determine at least one indicator of success.

2. A method according to claim 1, wherein the step of comparing comprises:

indicating that the presentation is similar to a second presentation based on the comparison.

3. A method according to claim 1 wherein said biologically based responses are chosen from a group of responses including heart rate, skin conductance, respiration rate, respiration state, motion, and eye tracking.

4. A method according to claim 1 wherein determining said at least one intensity value includes determining a standardized score as a function of at least one of a peak value, a trough value, a median value, an average value and a rate of change value of at least one of the biologically based responses.

5. A method according to claim 1 wherein determining said at least one synchrony value includes determining a variance of a rate of change value of at least one of the biologically based responses over at least a portion of the audience.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of determining for each time slot at least one intensity value comprises determining a first intensity value as a function of a first measured biologically based response and a second intensity value as a function of a second measured biologically based response.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of determining for each time slot at least one intensity value comprises determining a first intensity value as a function of a first measured biologically based response and a second intensity value as a function of a second measured biologically based response.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the first measured biologically based response comprises heart rate and the second measured biologically based response comprises skin conductance.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the first measured biologically based response comprises heart rate and the second measured biologically based response comprises skin conductance.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of biologically based responses are selected from the group consisting of heart rate, heart rate variability, skin conductance, vagal tone, respiration, body movement, facial muscle movement, facial expression, eye tracking, body temperature, near body temperature, facial thermography imaging, body thermography imaging, facial EMG, EEG, and fMRI.

6. A computerized system for determining measure of engagement of an audience for a presentation providing a sensory stimulus, the system comprising:

a plurality of sensors, each adapted for measuring a biologically based response to the presentation over a period;

the time period being divided into two or more time slots;

a computer processing system adapted for receiving data relating to the presentation and data from the plurality of sensors providing a measure of at least one biologically based response to the presentation;

an intensity processing module adapted for determining, for each time slot, at least one intensity value as a function of at least one of the measured biologically based responses;

a synchrony processing module adapted for determining, for each time slot, at least one synchrony value as a function of at least one of the measured biologically based responses, wherein the synchrony value represents a number of audience members having the same or similar biologically based response for the at least one measured biologically based response;

an engagement processing module adapted for determining, for each time slot, at least one engagement value as a function of said at least one intensity value and said at least one synchrony value; and

a database of stored engagement values, wherein the at least one engagement value is compared to the stored engagement value to determine similarity.

7. A system according to claim 6, wherein the database further comprises an indicator adapted for indicating that the presentation is similar to at least one other presentation based on a comparison of the at least one engagement values to the stored engagement values.

8. A system according to claim 6 wherein said biologically based responses are chosen from a group of responses including heart rate, skin conductance, respiration rate, respiration state, motion, and eye tracking.

9. A system according to claim 6 wherein said intensity processing module is adapted for determining the intensity value as a function of a standardized score and the standardized score is determined as a function of at least one of a peak value, a trough value, a median value, an average value and a rate of change value of at least one of the biologically based responses.

10. A system according to claim 6 wherein said synchrony processing module is adapted for determining the synchrony value as a function of a variance of a rate of change value of at least one of the biologically based responses over at least a portion of the audience.

16. The system of claim 6, wherein the synchrony processing module is capable of determining, for each time slot, at least two synchrony values for at least two measured biologically based responses.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the intensity processing module is capable of determining, for each time slot, at least two intensity values for the at least two measured biologically based responses.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the at least two measured biologically based responses are selected from the group consisting of heart rate, heart rate variability, skin conductance, vagal tone, respiration, body movement, facial muscle movement, facial expression, eye tracking, body temperature, near body temperature, facial thermography imaging, body thermography imaging, facial EMG, EEG, and fMRI.

19. The system of claim 17, wherein the at least two measured biologically based responses are heart rate and skin conductance.