Power management for audience measurement meters

• US 9,398,331 B2
• Filed: 12/04/2014
• Issued: 07/19/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 05/31/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: The Nielsen Company LLC (MOOD Media Corporation)
• Original Assignee: The Nielsen Company LLC (MOOD Media Corporation)
• Inventors: Conklin, Charles Clinton, Vitt, James J., Chan, Cheuk Wan, Zhang, Min
• Primary Examiner(s): Rabovianski, Jivka
• Application Number:
  US14/561,045
• Publication Number:
  US 20150089525A1
• Time in Patent Office: 593 Days
• Field of Search: 725/14, 725/10, 725/22, 725/19, 725/92, 725/116
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/32 Arrangements for monitoring conditions of receiving stations, e.g. malfunction or breakdown of receiving stations
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/442 Monitoring of processes or resources, e.g. detecting the failure of a recording device, monitoring the downstream bandwidth, the number of times a movie has been viewed, the storage space available from the internal hard disk arrangements for monitoring broadcast services or broadcast-related services H04H60/29; arrangements for identifying or recognising characteristics with a direct linkage to broadcast information H04H60/35; monitoring of user activities for profile generation for accessing a video database G06F16/739; monitoring in wireless networks H04W24/00

Abstract

Power management methods, apparatus and articles of manufacture for audience measurement meters are disclosed. Example methods disclosed herein include obtaining presentation device state data representing an activation state of a media presentation device that is to present received media and is monitored by an audience measurement meter, the presentation device state data including time information. Such disclosed example methods also include determining whether to fault audience measurement data reported by the audience measurement meter based on the presentation device state data and power outage information determined from the audience measurement data.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

obtaining, by executing an instruction with a processor, presentation device state data representing an activation state history of a media presentation device, the presentation device state data including time information;

obtaining, by executing an instruction with the processor, audience measurement data reported by an audience measurement meter monitoring presentation of media by the media presentation device; and

in response to the audience measurement data indicating the audience measurement meter experienced an outage, determining, by executing an instruction with the processor, whether the audience measurement data is to be faulted based on a comparison of the activation state history of the media presentation device and outage information for the audience measurement meter determined from the audience measurement data.

2. The method as defined in claim 1, wherein the determining of whether the audience measurement data is to be faulted includes:

determining that the audience measurement data is to be faulted when a first time interval over which the audience measurement data indicates the outage occurred overlaps a second time interval over which the presentation device state data indicates the media presentation device was active; and

determining that the audience measurement data is not to be faulted when the first time interval does not overlap the second interval.

3. The method as defined in claim 1, wherein the determining of whether the audience measurement data is to be faulted includes:

determining that the audience measurement data is to be faulted when a time interval over which the audience measurement data indicates the outage occurred overlaps a time interval over which the presentation device state data indicates the media presentation device was active; and

determining that the audience measurement data is not to be faulted when no time interval over which the audience measurement data indicates the outage occurred overlaps another time interval over which the presentation device state data indicates the media presentation device was active.

4. The method as defined in claim 1, wherein the presentation device state data is determined by a device separate from the audience measurement meter that reported the audience measurement data.

5. The method as defined in claim 1, wherein the outage information indicates an interval of time over which the audience measurement meter experienced a power outage.

6. The method as defined in claim 1, wherein the audience measurement meter is a first audience measurement meter, and the outage information indicates an interval of time over which the first audience measurement meter experienced a communication outage with a second audience measurement meter.

7. A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising computer readable instructions which, when executed, cause a processor to at least:

obtain presentation device state data representing an activation state history of a media presentation device, the presentation device state data including time information;

obtain audience measurement data reported by an audience measurement meter that is to monitor presentation of media by the media presentation device; and

in response to the audience measurement data indicating the audience measurement meter experienced an outage, determine whether the audience measurement data is to be faulted based on a comparison of the activation state history of the media presentation device and outage information for the audience measurement meter determined from the audience measurement data.

8. The non-transitory computer readable medium as defined in claim 7, wherein to determine whether the audience measurement data is to be faulted, the instructions, when executed, further cause the processor to:

determine that the audience measurement data is to be faulted when a first time interval over which the audience measurement data indicates the outage occurred overlaps a second time interval over which the presentation device state data indicates the media presentation device was active; and

determine that the audience measurement data is not to be faulted when the first time interval does not overlap the second interval.

9. The non-transitory computer readable medium as defined in claim 7, wherein to determine whether the audience measurement data is to be faulted, the instructions, when executed, further cause the processor to:

determine that the audience measurement data is to be faulted when a time interval over which the audience measurement data indicates the outage occurred overlaps a time interval over which the presentation device state data indicates the media presentation device was active; and

determine that the audience measurement data is not to be faulted when no time interval over which the audience measurement data indicates the outage occurred overlaps another time interval over which the presentation device state data indicates the media presentation device was active.

10. The non-transitory computer readable medium as defined in claim 7, wherein the presentation device state data is determined by a device separate from the audience measurement meter that reported the audience measurement data.

11. The non-transitory computer readable medium as defined in claim 7, wherein the outage information indicates an interval of time over which the audience measurement meter experienced a power outage.

12. The tangible computer readable medium as defined in claim 7, wherein the audience measurement meter is a first audience measurement meter, and the outage information indicates an interval of time over which the first audience measurement meter experienced a communication outage with a second audience measurement meter.

13. An apparatus comprising:

a data receiver to;

obtain presentation device state data representing an activation state history of a media presentation device, the presentation device state data including time information; and

obtain audience measurement data reported by an audience measurement meter that is to monitor presentation of media by the media presentation device; and

a processor to determine whether the audience measurement data is to be faulted in response to the audience measurement data indicating the audience measurement meter experienced an outage, the processor to determine whether the audience measurement data is to be faulted based on a comparison of the activation state history of the media presentation device and outage information for the audience measurement meter determined from the audience measurement data.

14. The apparatus as defined in claim 13, wherein to determine whether the audience measurement data is to be faulted, the processor is to:

determine that the audience measurement data is to be faulted when a first time interval over which the audience measurement data indicates the outage occurred overlaps a second time interval over which the presentation device state data indicates the media presentation device was active; and

determine that the audience measurement data is not to be faulted when the first time interval does not overlap the second interval.

15. The apparatus as defined in claim 13, wherein to determine whether the audience measurement data is to be faulted, the processor is to:

determine that the audience measurement data is to be faulted when a time interval over which the audience measurement data indicates the outage occurred overlaps a time interval over which the presentation device state data indicates the media presentation device was active; and

determine that the audience measurement data is not to be faulted when no time interval over which the audience measurement data indicates the outage occurred overlaps another time interval over which the presentation device state data indicates the media presentation device was active.

16. The apparatus as defined in claim 13, wherein the presentation device state data is determined by a device separate from the audience measurement meter that reported the audience measurement data.

17. The apparatus as defined in claim 13, wherein the outage information indicates an interval of time over which the audience measurement meter experienced a power outage.

18. The apparatus as defined in claim 13, wherein the audience measurement meter is a first audience measurement meter, and the outage information indicates an interval of time over which the first audience measurement meter experienced a communication outage with a second audience measurement meter.