Programming user behavior reporting

Abstract

Methods and systems for reporting user activity are provided. Sequentially numbering the reports allows for reports being sent at regular intervals to be associated with a timestamp, even if the system clock has not been set. Furthermore, the reporting period may default to an initial value, such as every 24 hours, but receive instructions to be reset to a different value.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method, comprising:
 setting a configurable reporting period value, of a television, to an initial value;   recording indicia of a number of events associated with the television;   formatting a report of the indicia of the number of events;   storing the report; and   upon determining the reporting period has ended, sending the report to a server.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising, upon determining the reporting period has ended, performing the formatting of the report and then performing the sending of the report. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein determining the reporting period has ended occurs upon startup of the television. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 receiving, by the television, a new reporting period value; and   setting the configurable reporting period value in accord with the updated reporting period value.   
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the storing of the report, further comprises, the storing of the report in a database along with an additional report associated with an additional reporting period that is different from the reporting period. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 5 , further comprising, upon determining the available storage is below a threshold, deleting at least one report in the database. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 5 , wherein sending further comprises sending the report and the additional report. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising, upon determining the server has successfully received the report, deleting the report. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising, adding a sequential number to the report. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 9 , further comprising, determining a timestamp of the report based on at least one of (i) the time the report was sent to the server, (ii) the sequential number and (iii) the configurable reporting period value. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 10 , further comprising, determining a timestamp of the report based on at the difference between the sequential number of the report and the sequential number of another report. 
     
     
         12 . A system for reporting television activity, comprising:
 a television;   a server;   a network, operable to enable data communication between the television and the server;   the television, further comprising:
 an activity monitor; 
 a report generator; and 
 a storage; 
   wherein the activity monitor collects activity data associated with the television;   wherein the report generator generates a number of reports, each report being associated with collected activity data during a reporting period;   wherein the storage is operable to store ones of the number of reports; and   wherein the television is operable to send stored reports to the server.   
     
     
         13 . The system of  claim 12 , wherein the report generator is further operable to generate ones of the number of reports with a sequential report number. 
     
     
         14 . The system of  claim 12 , wherein the television is further operable to delete from storage any of the stored reports successfully sent to the server. 
     
     
         15 . The system of  claim 12 , wherein the television, further comprises:
 a receiver, operable to receive a new reporting period value from the server; and   the generator is further operable to set the reporting period in accord with the new reporting period.   
     
     
         16 . A television device, comprising:
 a processor;   a storage;   a network connection;   wherein the processor is operable to detect a number of user activities and cause an indicia of the user activities to be stored;   wherein the processor is further operable to generate a report of the stored user activities determined to be associated with a reporting period; and   wherein the network connection is operable to connect to a network and transmit the report to a server.   
     
     
         17 . The television device of  claim 16 , further comprising, a receiver, operable to receive a new reporting period and causing the reporting period to be set to a value in accord with the new reporting period. 
     
     
         18 . The television device of  claim 16 , wherein the processor is further operable to generate a report incremented from the last report generated. 
     
     
         19 . The television device of  claim 16 , wherein the storage is operable to store the report. 
     
     
         20 . The television device of  claim 19 , wherein the report is deleted from the storage upon the network connection successfully transmitting the report to the server.