Methods and apparatus to determine engagement levels of audience members

• US 9,407,958 B2
• Filed: 05/19/2014
• Issued: 08/02/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 12/27/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: The Nielsen Company LLC (MOOD Media Corporation)
• Original Assignee: The Nielsen Company LLC (MOOD Media Corporation)
• Inventors: Terrazas, Alejandro
• Primary Examiner(s): Le, Rong
• Application Number:
  US14/281,139
• Publication Number:
  US 20140259034A1
• Time in Patent Office: 806 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/41265 having a remote control device for bidirectional communication between the remote control device and client device unidirectional remote control device H04N21/42204
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4223 Cameras H04N23/00 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44218 Detecting physical presence or behaviour of the user, e.g. using sensors to detect if the user is leaving the room or changes his face expression during a TV program methods or arrangements for recognising human body or animal bodies or body parts G06V40/10; methods or arrangements for acquiring or recognising human faces, facial parts, facial sketches, facial expressions G06V40/16; methods or arrangements for recognising movements or behaviour G06V40/20; arrangements for identifying users in broadcast systems H04H60/45
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44231 Monitoring of peripheral device or external card, e.g. to detect processing problems in a handheld device or the failure of an external recording device configuring of peripheral devices in general G06F9/4411; reporting information sensed by appliance or service execution status of appliance services in a home automation network H04L12/2823; monitoring the status of connected device in data switched networks H04L43/0817

Abstract

Methods and apparatus to determine engagement levels of audience members are disclosed. An example method includes analyzing image data corresponding to an environment in which an audience is exposed to media presented by a first media presentation device to determine whether the environment includes a glow emanating from a second media presentation device; and when the environment includes the glow, calculating an engagement for a person in the environment with respect to the first media presentation device based on a presence of the glow.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

analyzing, via a logic circuit, image data corresponding to an environment in which an audience is exposed to media presented by a first media presentation device to determine whether the environment includes a glow emanating from a second media presentation device; and

when the environment includes the glow, calculating a distance between the detected glow and the person, and calculating an engagement for a person in the environment with respect to the first media presentation device based on a presence of the glow.

2. The method as defined in claim 1, further including detecting a change in the glow over a period of time.

3. The method as defined in claim 2, further including calculating the engagement for the person based on the detected change in the glow.

4. The method as defined in claim 1, further including calculating the engagement for the person based on the distance.

5. The method as defined in claim 1, further including detecting media identifying information associated with the first media presentation device, and associating the media identifying information with the calculated engagement.

6. The method as defined in claim 1, wherein the first media presentation device is a stationary device located in the environment, and the second media presentation device is a portable device.

7. A tangible computer readable storage medium comprising instructions that, when executed, cause a machine to at least:

analyze image data corresponding to an environment in which an audience is exposed to media presented by a first media presentation device to determine whether the environment includes a glow emanating from a second media presentation device; and

when the environment includes the glow, calculate a distance between the detected glow and the person, and calculate an amount of attention paid by a person in the environment to the first media presentation device based on a presence of the glow.

8. The storage medium as defined in claim 7, wherein the instructions, when executed, cause the machine to detect a change in the glow over a period of time.

9. The storage medium as defined in claim 8, wherein the instructions, when executed, cause the machine to calculate the amount of attention paid by the person based on the detected change in the glow.

10. The storage medium as defined in claim 7, wherein the instructions, when executed, cause the machine to calculate the amount of attention paid by the person based on the distance.

11. The storage medium as defined in claim 7, wherein the instructions, when executed, cause the machine to gather media identifying information associated with the first media presentation device, and associate the media identifying information with the calculated engagement.

12. The storage medium as defined in claim 7, wherein the first media presentation device is a stationary device located in the environment, and the second media presentation device is a portable device.

13. An apparatus, comprising:

a detector to analyze image data representative of an environment in which an audience is exposed to media presented by a first media presentation device to determine whether the environment includes a glow emanating from a second media presentation device; and

a calculator to determine an engagement for a person in the environment with respect to the first media presentation device based on a presence of the glow, wherein the calculator is to determine a distance between the detected glow and the person.

14. The apparatus as defined in claim 13, wherein the detector is to detect a change in the glow over a period of time.

15. The apparatus as defined in claim 14, wherein the calculator is to determine the engagement for the person based on the detected change in the glow.

16. The apparatus as defined in claim 13, wherein the calculator is to determine the engagement for the person based on the distance.

17. The apparatus as defined in claim 13, further including a media detector to collect media identifying information to associate with the calculated engagement.

18. The apparatus as defined in claim 13, wherein the first media presentation device is a stationary device located in the environment, and the second media presentation device is a portable device.