Audience attendance monitoring through facial recognition

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10134048-B2
Application number	US-201414454490-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 7, 2014
Priority date	Jul 18, 2012
Publication date	Nov 20, 2018
Grant date	Nov 20, 2018

Abstract

In accordance with some implementations, a method for measuring viewership of media content is disclosed. The method is performed on a client system. The client system captures visual data of one or more users of the client system with the camera. The client system then analyzes the captured visual data to determine a facial image for each respective user of the one or more users. Based on the facial image, the client system then determines if a respective user is a participant in a media viewership study. In accordance with a determination that the user is a participant in the media viewership measurement study, the client system determines the media content being presented. The client system creates viewership data based on the user and the media content being displayed in the proximity of the user and transmits viewership data to a server system.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for measuring viewership of media content, comprising:
on a client system having one or more processors, a camera, and memory storing one or more programs for execution by the one or more processors:
obtaining, from a participant database, facial recognition information for individuals who have agreed to participate in a media viewership totals measurement study, the facial recognition information including facial attribute data for the individuals;
capturing, via the camera, visual data of one or more users of the client system;
determining media content being presented in proximity to the one or more users;
extracting from the captured visual data a facial image corresponding to each respective user of the one or more users; and
for each extracted facial image:
automatically determining, via a facial recognition algorithm, if the corresponding user is an individual who has agreed to participate in the media viewership totals measurement study, the determining including comparing facial features from the extracted facial image with the facial recognition information obtained from the participant database;
in accordance with a determination that the corresponding user is an individual who has agreed to participate in the media viewership totals measurement study, generating first viewership data, the first viewership data including (i) demographic information of the individual, (ii) presence information of the individual, and (iii) information identifying the determined media content; and transmitting the first viewership data to a server system; and
in accordance with a determination that the corresponding user is an individual who has not agreed to participate in the media viewership totals measurement study, generating second viewership data, the second viewership data including (i) presence information of the individual, and (ii) information identifying the determined media content and transmitting the second viewership data to a server system.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising:
in accordance with the determination that the corresponding user is an individual who has not agreed to participate in the media viewership totals measurement study, temporarily storing facial data of the individual to avoid redundantly counting the individual.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising:
analyzing captured visual data to determine respective body positions of the one or more users of the client system; and
estimating user interest of the one or more users in the presented media content based on the respective body positions of the one or more users.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising:
discarding captured visual data after a predetermined amount of time.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising:
prior to transmitting the first or second viewership data to the server system, removing personally identifiable information from the first or second viewership data.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein capturing the visual data of one or more users of the client system comprises capturing infrared visual data.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the participant database is stored on the client system.

8. An electronic device for determining viewer interest, comprising:
one or more processors;
a camera,
memory storing one or more programs to be executed by the one or more processors;
the one or more programs comprising instructions for:
obtaining, from a participant database, facial recognition information for individuals who have agreed to participate in a media viewership totals measurement study, the facial recognition information including facial attribute data for the individuals;
capturing, via the camera, visual data of one or more users of the electronic device;
determining media content being presented in proximity to the one or more users;
extracting from the captured visual data a facial image corresponding to each respective user of the one or more users; and
for each extracted facial image:
automatically determining, via a facial recognition algorithm, if the corresponding user is an individual who has agreed to participate in the media viewership totals measurement study, the determining including comparing facial features from the extracted facial image with the facial recognition information obtained from the participant database;
in accordance with a determination that the corresponding user is an individual who has agreed to participate in the media viewership totals measurement study, generating first viewership data, the first viewership data including (i) demographic information of the individual, (ii) presence information of the individual, and (iii) information identifying the determined media content; and transmitting the first viewership data to a server system; and
in accordance with a determination that the corresponding user is an individual who has not agreed to participate in the media viewership totals measurement study, generating second viewership data, the second viewership data including (i) presence information of the individual, and (ii) information identifying the determined media content and transmitting the second viewership data to a server system.

9. The electronic device of claim 8 , further including instructions for:
in accordance with the determination that the corresponding user is an individual who has not agreed to participate in the media viewership totals measurement study, temporarily storing facial data of the individual to avoid redundantly counting the individual.

10. The electronic device of claim 8 , further including instructions for:
analyzing captured visual data to determine respective body positions of the one or more users; and
estimating user interest of the one or more users in the presented media content based on the respective body positions of the one or more users.

11. The electronic device of claim 8 , further including instructions for:
discarding captured visual data after a predetermined amount of time.

12. The electronic device of claim 8 , further including instructions for:
prior to transmitting the first or second viewership data to the server system, removing personally identifiable information from the first or second viewership data.

13. The electronic device of claim 8 , wherein the camera is infrared sensitive.

14. The electronic device of claim 8 , further comprising the participant database.

15. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing one or more programs configured for execution by an electronic device with a camera, the one or more programs comprising instructions for:
obtaining, from a participant database, facial recognition information for individuals who have agreed to participate in a media viewership totals measurement study, the facial recognition information including facial attribute data for the individuals;
capturing, via the camera, visual data of one or more users of the electronic device;
determining media content being presented in proximity to the one or more users;
extracting from the captured visual data a facial image corresponding to each respective user of the one or more users; and
for each extracted facial image:
automatically determining, via a facial recognition algorithm, if the corresponding user is an individual who has agreed to participate in the media viewership totals measurement study, the determining including comparing facial features from the extracted facial image with the facial recognition information obtained from the participant database;
in accordance with a determination that

Assignees

• Google Llc

Inventors

• Deephanphongs David
• Krieger Ken

Classifications

• H04N21/25866 Primary

  Management of end-user data (customer care in data networks H04L41/5077) · CPC title

• H04N21/251

  Learning process for intelligent management, e.g. learning user preferences for recommending movies (details of learning user preferences for the retrieval of video data in a video database G06F16/739; computer systems using learning methods G06N3/08) · CPC title

• H04N21/4223

  Cameras (H04N23/00 takes precedence) · CPC title

• H04N21/6582

  Data stored in the client, e.g. viewing habits, hardware capabilities, credit card number (arrangements where receivers interact with the broadcast H04H20/38) · CPC title

• H04N21/44218

  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 programme (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 title