Methods and apparatus to monitor reception of programs and content by broadcast receivers

• US 7,587,728 B2
• Filed: 01/25/2006
• Issued: 09/08/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 01/22/1997
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Nielsen Company (US), LLC
• Original Assignee: The Nielsen Company LLC (MOOD Media Corporation)
• Inventors: Feininger, William A., Wheeler, Henry B., Lu, Daozheng, Kempter, Paul C.
• Primary Examiner(s): Kelley; Christopher
• Assistant Examiner(s): Shepard; Justin E
• Application Number:
  US11/339,269
• Publication Number:
  US 20060195857A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,322 Days
• Field of Search: 725/19, 725/20
• US Class Current: 725/19
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 2201/90 characterised by the use of signatures
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/39 for identifying broadcast space-time use of Electronic Programme Guides H04H60/72
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/41 for identifying broadcast space, i.e. broadcast channels, broadcast stations or broadcast areas
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/56 Arrangements characterised by components specially adapted for monitoring, identification or recognition covered by groups H04H60/29-H04H60/54
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/235 Processing of additional data, e.g. scrambling of additional data or processing content descriptors
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/435 Processing of additional data, e.g. decrypting of additional data, reconstructing software from modules extracted from the transport stream
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44222 Analytics of user selections, e.g. selection of programs or purchase activity monitoring of user selections in data processing systems G06F11/34; arrangements for monitoring the user's 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
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8352 involving content or source identification data, e.g. Unique Material Identifier [UMID]
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/173 with two-way working, e.g. subscriber sending a programme selection signal

Abstract

Methods and apparatus to monitor reception of programs and content by broadcast receivers are disclosed. An example method disclosed herein to monitor reception of a broadcast program by a broadcast receiver located in a statistically selected site comprises retrieving an audience measurement data packet from the broadcast receiver in order to identify the broadcast program, detecting a code embedded in the broadcast program in order to identify the broadcast program, extracting a signature from the broadcast program in order to identify the broadcast program, identifying the broadcast program through use of a software agent, and selecting at least one of the audience measurement data packet, the embedded code, the extracted signature or the software agent to identify the received program.

Claims

1. A method for identifying a broadcast program tuned by a monitored digital receiver at a first location, wherein the broadcast program is one of a plurality of broadcast programs, and wherein each of the plurality of broadcast programs is transmitted as a sequence of data packets based on a digital protocol, the method comprising:

determining, at the first location, a monitored signature representative of a monitored program signal providing the broadcast program tuned by the monitored digital receiver;

determining, at the first location, a reference signature from a set of data packets corresponding to a reference broadcast program tuned by a reference receiver from the plurality of broadcast programs, the reference signature representative of a reference program signal providing the reference broadcast program tuned by the reference receiver;

comparing, at the first location, the monitored signature and the reference signature; and

only when the monitored signature and the reference signature substantially match, detecting, at the first location, an identifying code accompanying the reference broadcast program without using either of the monitored signature or the reference signature, the identifying code capable of identifying the broadcast program tuned by the monitored digital receiver and tuned by the reference receiver.

2. A method as defined in claim 1 further comprising storing the identifying code with a time stamp when the monitored signature and the reference signature substantially match.

3. A method as defined in claim 1 wherein the monitored signature comprises at least one of an audio portion or a video portion of the broadcast program.

4. A method as defined in claim 1 wherein the monitored signature comprises at least one of an audio signature generated from an audio portion of the broadcast program or a video signature generated from a video portion of the broadcast program.

5. A method as defined in claim 1 wherein the monitored signature is detected by a non-invasive sensor proximate to an output of the monitored digital receiver.

6. A method as defined in claim 5 wherein the non-invasive sensor is a microphone.

7. A method as defined in claim 1 wherein the reference signature comprises at least one of an audio portion or a video portion of the reference broadcast program.

8. A method as defined in claim 1 wherein the reference signature comprises at least one of an audio signature generated from an audio portion of the reference broadcast program or a video signature generated from a video portion of the reference broadcast program.

9. A method as defined in claim 1 wherein the reference signature comprises at least one of a set of audio components or a set of video components included in the set of data packets corresponding to the reference broadcast program.

10. A method as defined in claim 1 wherein the reference signature comprises at least one of a set of audio signatures generated from a set of audio components included in the set of data packets corresponding to the reference broadcast program or a set of video signatures generated from a set of video components included in the set of data packets corresponding to the reference broadcast program.

11. A method as defined in claim 1 wherein determining the reference signature comprises scanning a particular one of a plurality of broadcast channels used to carry the plurality of broadcast programs to obtain the set of data packets corresponding to a reference broadcast program.

12. A method as defined in claim 11 further comprising scanning to a next one of the plurality of broadcast channels to obtain a different set of data packets corresponding to a different reference broadcast program when the monitored signature and the reference signature substantially match do not substantially match.

13. A method as defined in claim 11 wherein each of the plurality of broadcast channels is configured to carry at least one broadcast program.

14. A method as defined in claim 11 wherein each of the plurality of broadcast channels is configured to carry a major channel comprising a plurality of minor channels.

15. A method as defined in claim 14 wherein at least one of the major channel or at least one of the minor channels is configured to carry at least one broadcast program.

16. A method as defined in claim 14 wherein scanning the plurality of broadcast channels comprises selecting the major channel and sequentially processing each of the plurality of minor channels.

17. A method as defined in claim 11 wherein scanning the plurality of broadcast channels comprises determining to which broadcast channel the monitored digital receiver is tuned.

18. A method as defined in claim 17 wherein determining to which broadcast channel the monitored digital receiver is tuned comprises measuring a local oscillator frequency of the monitored digital receiver.

19. A method as defined in claim 1 wherein determining the reference signature comprises determining a broadcast channel to which the monitored digital receiver is tuned and receiving the reference broadcast program carried by the broadcast channel.

20. A method as defined in claim 19 wherein determining the broadcast channel to which the monitored digital receiver is tuned comprises measuring a local oscillator frequency of the monitored digital receiver.

21. A method as defined in claim 1 wherein the identifying code comprises program information included in the set of data packets corresponding to the reference broadcast program.

22. A method as defined in claim 21 wherein the program information conforms to the digital protocol used to transmit the plurality of broadcast programs such that the program information is required to process the set of data packets to receive the reference broadcast program.

23. A method as defined in claim 1 further comprising extracting the identifying code from the set of data packets corresponding to the reference broadcast program.

24. A method as defined in claim 23 wherein extracting the identifying code from the set of data packets corresponding to the reference broadcast program is performed only when the monitored signature and the reference signature substantially match.

25. A method as defined in claim 1 wherein the digital protocol used to transmit the plurality of broadcast programs at least one of does not include or corrupts ancillary coded program information.

26. A method as defined in claim 1 wherein the digital protocol used to transmit the plurality of broadcast programs conforms to an Advanced Television System Committee (ATSC) digital broadcast standard.

27. A method as defined in claim 1 wherein the digital protocol used to transmit the plurality of broadcast programs conforms to a digital video broadcast standard.

28. A method as defined in claim 1 wherein the monitored signature does not include the identifying code.

29. A system to identify a broadcast program tuned by a monitored digital receiver, wherein the broadcast program is one of a plurality of broadcast programs, and wherein each of the plurality of broadcast programs is transmitted as a sequence of data packets based on a digital protocol, the system comprising:

a first signal processor configured to determine a monitored signature representative of a monitored program signal providing the broadcast program tuned by the monitored digital receiver;

a second signal processor configured to determine a reference signature from a set of data packets corresponding to a reference broadcast program tuned by a reference receiver from the plurality of broadcast programs, the reference signature representative of a reference program signal providing the reference broadcast program tuned by the reference receiver;

a comparator configured to compare the monitored signature and the reference signature, wherein the comparator is configured to associate an identifying code detected from the reference program signal tuned by the reference receiver with the broadcast program tuned by the monitored digital receiver only when the monitored signature substantially matches the reference signature, the identifying code is included in the reference program signal in addition to the reference broadcast program and is not detectable from the monitored and reference signatures, and the identifying code is not detectable from a non-invasive sensor configured to detect an output of the monitored digital receiver; and

the second signal processor and the comparator cooperating to respectively determine reference signatures for different reference programs and compare the monitored signature to respective ones of the reference signatures until a substantial match is detected.

30. A system a defined in claim 29 further comprising a memory configured to store the identifying code with a time stamp when the comparator associates the identifying code with the broadcast program tuned by the monitored digital receiver.

31. A system as defined in claim 29 wherein the first signal processor comprises a non-invasive sensor configured to detect an output of the monitored digital receiver.

32. A system as defined in claim 29 wherein the first signal processor comprises a signature generator configured to generate a signature representative of an output of the monitored digital receiver.

33. A system as defined in claim 29 wherein the second signal processor is configured to extract at least one of a set of audio components or a set of video components included in the set of data packets corresponding to the reference broadcast program.

34. A system as defined in claim 29 wherein the second signal processor comprises a signature generator configured to generate at least one of a set of audio signatures generated from a set of audio components included in the set of data packets corresponding to the reference broadcast program or a set of video signatures generated from a set of video components included in the set of data packets corresponding to the reference broadcast program.

35. A system as defined in claim 29 further comprising a frequency probe configured to provide a local oscillator source for the second signal processor to use to tune to a broadcast channel to which the monitored digital receiver is tuned.

36. A system as defined in claim 29 wherein the identifying code comprises program information included in the set of data packets corresponding to the reference broadcast program.

37. A system as defined in claim 36 wherein the program information conforms to the digital protocol used to transmit the plurality of broadcast programs such that the program information is required to process the set of data packets to receive the reference broadcast program.

38. A system as defined in claim 29 further comprising a program information processor configured to extract the identifying code from the set of data packets corresponding to the reference broadcast program.

39. A system as defined in claim 38 wherein the program information processor is configured to extract the identifying code from the set of data packets corresponding to the reference broadcast program only when the monitored signature and the reference signature substantially match.

40. A system for identifying a program tuned by a monitored receiver, wherein the monitored receiver is located in a household, and wherein the system comprises:

a source tuner, separate from a tuner of the monitored receiver, arranged to tune to programs tunable by the monitored receiver, wherein the source tuner is located in the household;

a program signature extractor in communication with the monitored receiver and the source tuner and arranged to extract a first program signature representative of a characteristic of a first program signal provided by an output of the monitored receiver and to extract a second program signature representative of a characteristic of a second program signal provided by an output of the source tuner, the signature extractor located in the household;

a signature correlator located in the household and arranged to correlate the first and second program signatures; and

a code reader located in the household, in communication with the source tuner and arranged to read a code included with the program and different from the first and second program signatures only when the signature correlator detects a match between the first and second program signatures, the is code not detectable from either the first or the second program signatures.