Methods and systems for audience measurement

• US 9,219,559 B2
• Filed: 05/16/2012
• Issued: 12/22/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 05/16/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: The Nielsen Company LLC (MOOD Media Corporation)
• Original Assignee: The Nielsen Company LLC (MOOD Media Corporation)
• Inventors: McMillan, Francis Gavin
• Primary Examiner(s): TAYLOR, JOSHUA D
• Application Number:
  US13/473,358
• Publication Number:
  US 20130312019A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,315 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 2201/90 characterised by the use of signatures
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/31 Arrangements for monitoring the use made of the broadcast services
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/58 of audio determination or detection of speech characteristics in general G10L25/00; speech recognition in general G10L15/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/42203 sound input device, e.g. microphone
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44213 Monitoring of end-user related data arrangements for monitoring the users' behaviour or opinions in broadcast systems H04H60/33
• 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

Abstract

Methods and systems are disclosed for audience measurement. An example method includes identifying at least one of a media device, an operation command, or a person in response to a voice command. The voice command is spoken by a user to control the media device. The example method includes collecting audience measurement data related to at least one of the media device, the person, or the user. The example method includes associating the at least one of the media device, the operation command, or the person with the audience measurement data.

Claims

1. A method of measuring an audience, the method comprising:

identifying, with a processor, a person in response to a voice command spoken to control a media device at a first time;

collecting audience measurement data identifying media output by the media device;

determining, with the processor, whether the voice command muted the volume of the media device; and

at least one of removing or preventing, with the processor, the association of the person with the audience measurement data when the voice command muted the volume of the media device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the audience measurement data is representative of at least one of an operating state of the media device, a source of media presented by the media device, a volume of the media presented by the media device, or a number of audience members.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the collecting of the audience measurement data further includes extracting a code from an audio signal, the code to identify at least one of media presented by the media device or a source of the media presented by the media device.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the collecting of the audience measurement data further includes generating a signature based on an audio signal, the signature to identify media presented by the media device.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the identifying of the person includes identifying a reference table, the reference table including reference person identifiers.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the voice command includes an indication of media consumption.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the voice command includes at least one of fast forward, rewind, play, next or previous.

8. An audience measurement system, the system comprising:

a voice command recognizer to identify a person based on a voice command spoken to control a media device at a first time;

a data collector to collect audience measurement data related to the media device; and

an association analyzer to;

determine whether the voice command muted the volume of the media device; and

at least one of prevent or remove the association of the person with the audience measurement data when the voice command muted the volume of the media device.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the audience measurement data is representative of at least one of an operating state of the media device, a source of media presented by the media device, a volume of the media presented by the media device, or a number of audience members.

10. The system of claim 8, wherein the data collector is to collect the audience measurement data by extracting a code from an audio signal, the code to identify at least one of media presented by the media device or a source of the media presented by the media device.

11. The system of claim 8, wherein the data collector is to collect the audience measurement data by generating a signature based on an audio signal, the signature to identify media presented by the media device.

12. The system of claim 8, wherein the voice command recognizer is to identify the person using a reference table including reference person identifiers.

13. The system of claim 8, wherein the voice command includes an indication of media consumption.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the voice command includes at least one of fast forward, rewind, play, next or previous.

15. A tangible computer readable storage medium comprising instructions that, when executed, cause a computing device to at least:

identify a person in response to a voice command spoken to control a media device at a first time;

collect audience measurement data identifying media output by the media device;

determine whether the voice command muted the volume of the media device; and

at least one of prevent or remove the association of the person with the audience measurement data when the voice command muted the volume of the media device.

16. The computer readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the audience measurement data is representative of at least one of an operating state of the media device, a source of media presented by the media device, a volume of the media presented by the media device, or a number of audience members.

17. The computer readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the instructions cause the computing device to collect the audience measurement data by extracting a code from an audio signal, the code to identify at least one of media presented by the media device or a source of the media presented by the media device.

18. The computer readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the instructions cause the computing device to collect the audience measurement data by generating a signature based on an audio signal, the signature to identify at least one of media presented by the media device or a source of the media presented by the media device.

19. The computer readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the instructions cause the computing device to identify the person by identifying a reference table, the reference table including reference person identifiers.

20. The computer readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the instructions, when executed, cause the computing device to identify an indication of media consumption from the voice command.

21. The computer readable storage medium of claim 20, wherein the instructions, when executed, cause the computing device to identify at least one of a fast forward, rewind, play, next or previous voice command.