System & method for the near-real time capture & reporting of large population consumer behaviors concerning television use

Abstract

A system and method for identifying television programming, identifying and capturing consumer behavior as regards such programming and providing a nearly-real time reporting of the information to interested parties, while also providing verification of actual delivery of advertising and/or program content.

We claim:  
     
         1 . A set top box for use in a cable television system wherein said set top box is in communication with a television, said set top box transmitting information about events of said television to the cable television system whenever television events occur.  
     
     
         2 . The set top box of  claim 1  wherein other peripheral devices are in communication with said set top box, said set top box transmitting information about events of said other peripheral devices to the cable television system whenever events of said other peripheral devices occur.  
     
     
         3 . The set top box of  claim 1  further comprising: 
 hardware for supporting communications over the cable television system and including application program interfaces (APIs) for detecting respective television events;  
 a memory in communication with said hardware;  
 an operating system, stored in said memory, for managing processes that run on said hardware;  
 a resident application, stored in said memory, for managing control interactions of said set top box;  
 a third-party application stored in said memory, said third party application identifying a first set of selected APIs and generating a first message for every detected event of said first set of selected APIs and for transmitting said first message to said cable system whenever any event of said first set of selected APIs is detected.  
 
     
     
         4 . The set top box of  claim 3  wherein said operating system comprises APIs for detecting other respective television events and wherein said third-party application identifies a second set of selected APIs of said operating system and generates a second message for every detected event of said second set of selected APIs of said operating system and for transmitting said second message to said cable system whenever any event of said second set of selected APls is detected.  
     
     
         5 . The set top box of  claim 4  wherein said resident application comprises APIs for detecting additional respective television events and wherein said third-party application identifies a third set of selected APIs of said resident application and generates a third message for every detected event of said third set of selected APIs of said resident application and for transmitting said third message to said cable system whenever said event of said third set of selected APIs is detected.  
     
     
         6 . The set top box of  claim 2  further comprising: 
 hardware for supporting communications over the cable television system and including application program interfaces (APIs) for detecting respective other peripheral device events;  
 a memory in communication with said hardware;  
 an operating system, stored in said memory, for managing processes that run on said hardware;  
 a resident application, stored in said memory, for managing control interactions of said set top box;  
 a third-party application stored in said memory, said third party application identifying a first set of selected APIs and generating a first message for every detected event of said selected APIs and for transmitting said first message to said cable system whenever any event of said first set of selected APIs is detected.  
 
     
     
         7 . The set top box of  claim 6  wherein said operating system comprises APIs for detecting other respective other peripheral device events and wherein said third-party application identifies a second set of selected APIs of said operating system and generates a second message for every detected event of said second set of selected APIs of said operating system and for transmitting said second message to said cable system whenever any event of said second set of selected APIs is detected.  
     
     
         8 . The set top box of  claim 7  wherein said resident application comprises APIs for detecting additional respective other peripheral device events and wherein said third-party application identifies a third set of selected APIs of said resident application and generates a third message for every detected event of said third set of selected APIs of said resident application and for transmitting said third message to said cable system whenever said event of said third set of selected APIs is detected.  
     
     
         9 . The set top box of  claim 5  wherein said set top box comprises an identification number and said first, second and third message comprises a structure that includes said identification number, the time of said first, second or third message, respectively, and the respective event that occurred.  
     
     
         10 . The set top box of  claim 9  where in said first, second and third message structure further comprises the time of the event, the current television channel, the volume and a cluster code.  
     
     
         11 . The set top box of  claim 6  wherein said set top box comprises an identification number and said first, second and third message comprises a structure that includes said identification number, the time of said first, second or third message, respectively, and the respective event that occurred.  
     
     
         12 . The set top box of  claim 11  where in said first, second and third message structure further comprises the time of the event, the current television channel, the sound volume and a cluster code.  
     
     
         13 . The set top box of  claim 1  wherein said event comprises set top on/off, television on/off and channel change.  
     
     
         14 . The set top box of  claim 13  wherein said event further comprises television mute on/off and a program guide on/off.  
     
     
         15 . The set top box of  claim 2  wherein the cable television system comprises a head end and wherein said other peripheral devices comprise a video cassette recorder (VCR), an audio source, a printer and a user text-entering interface and wherein said operation transition comprises VCR on/off, audio source change, printer on/off and non-head end requests across the cable television system from said user text-entering interface.  
     
     
         16 . The set top box of  claim 2  wherein said other peripheral devices comprises an auxiliary input source and wherein one of said events comprises an auxiliary input source change.  
     
     
         17 . A system for near-real time capturing and reporting of viewers' cable television use for televisions coupled to a cable television network including at least one head end, said system comprising: 
 a first subsystem for generating encoded media assets for transmission through the cable network, said preparation subsystem including means for assigning a range of codes to be associated with the media assets and with entities that own the media assets to form assigned asset data;    a second subsystem, coupled to said first subsystem, comprising: 
 at least one set top box coupled to an associated television for receiving said encoded media assets and for obtaining data of television events as they occur, said at least one set top box generating a message corresponding to each one of said data of television events as they occur;  
 at least one set top box event dispatching means for receiving each of said messages and for routing said messages to collection means within said second subsystem;  
 means for generating statistics from said television event data coupled to said at least one set top box event dispatching means;  
 means for extracting the code from the encoded media assets and creating asset tag timestamps therefrom; and  
   a third subsystem, coupled to said first subsystem and to said second subsystem, said third subsystem comprising means for merging said asset tag timestamps with: 
 said statistics generated in said second subsystem;  
 information related to published broadcast schedules and to head-end channel line-ups; and  
 said assigned asset data;  
   to generate, in near-real time, viewership consolidated data.    
     
     
         18 . The system of  claim 17  wherein said second subsystem further comprises: 
 (a) a cluster code database;  
 (b) a cable customer database;  
 (c) a set top box identification database; and  
 (d) cluster code server means for merging data from said cluster code database, said cable customer database and said set top box identification database to generate set top box-to-cluster code data.  
 
     
     
         19 . The system of  claim 17  wherein said collection means in said second subsystem comprises a set top box event aggregator for collecting counting data regarding how many set top boxes experienced at least one event for creating set top box aggregate data.  
     
     
         20 . The system of  claim 19  wherein said collection means in said second subsystem further comprises a set top box audience tracking sampler for recording television event data for a statistically significant sample of households in the at least one head end and for creating audience sample data.  
     
     
         21 . The system of  claim 20  wherein said collection means further comprises a set top box service request router which routes a service request message from said at least one set top box to an external service.  
     
     
         22 . The system of  claim 17  wherein said means for extracting the code in said second subsystem comprises a cable head end transmission monitor that records the occurrence and time of any assigned asset codes which are broadcast over the cable television network and that creates said asset tag timestamps.  
     
     
         23 . The system of  claim 19  wherein said set top box aggregator aggregates received set top box messages by time, channel, cluster code and head end.  
     
     
         24 . The system of  claim 17  wherein said merging means further comprises means for matching head end identification data and virtual channel number data with published broadcast data for updating said viewership consolidated data.  
     
     
         25 . The system of  claim 24  wherein said matching means also matches head end identification data and virtual channel number data with said asset tag timestamp data to update said viewership consolidated data.  
     
     
         26 . The system of  claim 17  wherein said third subsystem further comprises reporter means for providing said viewership consolidated data as on-line information.  
     
     
         27 . The system of  claim 17  wherein said third subsystem further comprises reporter means for providing said viewership consolidated data as printed documentation.  
     
     
         28 . A method for tracking television events of at least one television in a cable system, said method comprising the steps of: 
 providing a cable set top box that is in communication with the cable system and the at least one television;    monitoring television events using said cable set top box; and    transmitting from said cable set top box a signal indicative of said television events to the cable system as said events occur.    
     
     
         29 . The method of  claim 28  further comprising the steps of: 
 (a) coupling other peripheral devices to said cable set top box;  
 (b) monitoring events of said other peripheral devices using said set top box; and  
 (c) transmitting from said cable set top box a signal indicative of said events of said other peripheral devices to the cable system as said events of said other peripheral devices occur.  
 
     
     
         30 . The method of  claim 29  wherein said set top box comprises hardware having application program interfaces (APIs) for detecting predetermined events of said television and said other peripheral devices and wherein said step of monitoring events of said television and of said other peripheral devices comprises providing a third-party application to a memory in said set top box and whereby said third-party application identifies selected APIs in the hardware of said set top box.  
     
     
         31 . The method of  claim 30  wherein said set top box further comprises an operating system having its own set of APIs and wherein said step of monitoring events of said television and of said other peripheral devices further comprises said third-party application identifying selected APIs of said operating system.  
     
     
         32 . The method of  claim 31  wherein said set top box further comprises a resident program stored in the memory of said set top box and wherein said resident program comprises its own set of APIs and wherein said step of monitoring events of said television and of said other peripheral devices further comprises said third-party application identifying selected APIs of said resident program.  
     
     
         33 . The method of  claim 32  wherein the set top box comprises an identification number and wherein said step of transmitting a signal indicative of said events of said television and of said other peripheral devices comprises configuring said third-party program to generate a message structure identifying each of said events according to set top box identification number, time of message and type of event.  
     
     
         34 . The method of  claim 33  wherein said step of transmitting a signal further comprises including in said message the time that same type of event occurred last, the volume and a cluster code.  
     
     
         35 . The method of  claim 34  wherein said type of event comprises set top box on/off, television on/off and channel change.  
     
     
         36 . The method of  claim 35  wherein said type of event comprises television mute on/off and a program guide on/off.  
     
     
         37 . A method for near real time capturing and reporting of viewers' cable television use for televisions coupled to a cable television network including at least one head end, said method comprising the steps of: 
 (a) generating encoded media assets for transmission through the cable network,    (b) assigning a range of codes to be associated with said media assets and with entities that own the media assets to form assigned asset data;    (c) coupling at least one set top box to an associated television for receiving said encoded media assets and for obtaining data about television events as they occur;    (d) generating a message, by said at least one set top box, corresponding to each one of said data of said television events as they occur and transmitting them into the cable television network;    (e) routing each of said messages to collection means;    (f) generating statistics from said television event data;    (g) extracting the code from the encoded media assets and creating asset tag timestamps therefrom;    (h) merging said asset tag timestamps with: 
 said statistics;  
 information related to published broadcast schedules and to head-end channel line-ups; and  
 said assigned asset data;  
   to generate, in near-real time, viewership consolidated data.    
     
     
         38 . The method of  claim 37  wherein said step of generating statistics from said television events data includes utilizing a cluster code database, a cable customer database, a set top box identification database and a cluster code server for merging data from said cluster code database, cable customer database and said set top box identification database to form set top box-to-cluster code data.  
     
     
         39 . The method of  claim 38  wherein said step of generating statistics from said television events data comprises collecting counting data regarding how many set top boxes experience at least one event and creating set top box aggregate data.  
     
     
         40 . The method of  claim 39  wherein the step of generating statistics from said television event data includes recording television event data for a statistically significant sample of households in the at least one head end and generating audience sample data.  
     
     
         41 . The method of  claim 40  further comprising the step of routing a service request message from the at least one set top box to an external service.  
     
     
         42 . The method of  claim 40  wherein said step of extracting the code from the encoded media assets comprises recording the occurrence and time of any assigned asset codes which are broadcast over the cable television network and creating said asset tag timestamps.  
     
     
         43 . The method of  claim 39  wherein said step of generating statistics from said television event data further comprises aggregating said counting data by time, channel, cluster code and head end.  
     
     
         44 . The method of  claim 37  wherein said step of merging said asset tag timestamps further comprises matching head end identification data and virtual channel number data with published broadcast data for updating said viewership consolidated data.  
     
     
         45 . The method of  claim 44  wherein said step of merging said asset tag timestamps further comprises matching head end identification data and virtual channel number data with said asset tag timestamp data to update said viewership consolidated data.  
     
     
         46 . The method of  claim 37  further comprising the step of reporting said viewership consolidated data on-line.  
     
     
         47 . The method of  claim 37  further comprising the step of reporting said viewership consolidated data as printed documentation.