Systems and methods for determining audience engagement based on user motion

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10291958-B2
Application number	US-201715852756-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 22, 2017
Priority date	Jan 5, 2017
Publication date	May 14, 2019
Grant date	May 14, 2019

Abstract

Systems and methods are described for measuring audience engagement for a media asset using user motion. For example, a media guidance application may receive movement logs from a plurality of user equipment. These movement logs may contain information indicating when each of the plurality of users moved, as detected by motion sensors, while the user equipment was generating for display a media asset. The movement logs may be analyzed to determine time periods during the media asset during which greater than a certain number of the plurality of users were moving. These time periods may in turn be used to infer how engaged the plurality of users were during the media asset or what portions of the media asset the plurality of users viewed. This data may be used to determine in what media assets, or portions thereof, supplemental video content should be inserted.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for measuring audience engagement based on user motion, the method comprising:
determining, using control circuitry, that a plurality of user equipment corresponding to a plurality of users are generating for display a media asset, wherein a first user equipment of the plurality of user equipment corresponds to a first user of the plurality of users, and wherein a second user equipment of the plurality of user equipment corresponds to a second user of the plurality of users;
obtaining, with the control circuitry, from the plurality of user equipment, user movement data indicating that a subset of the plurality of users have moved during a time period, wherein the subset of the plurality of users correspond to a subset of the plurality of user equipment;
determining, using the control circuitry, a portion of the media asset corresponding to the time period;
computing, using the control circuitry, a value indicating how many of the plurality of users were moving during the portion of the media asset based on the subset of the plurality of users;
based on determining that the value exceeds a threshold value, computing, using the control circuitry, a number of users who were not engaged in watching the portion of the media asset; and
inferring, using the control circuitry, based on the number of users and the portion of the media asset, how much of the media asset was viewed by the plurality of users.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the determining, using the control circuitry, the portion of the media asset corresponding to the time period comprises:
obtaining a first movement log from the first user equipment and a second movement log from the second user equipment, wherein each of the first and second movement logs comprises a data structure representing a plurality of movement events occurring while the user equipment, from which the movement log is received, is generating for display the media asset, and wherein the plurality of movement events are detected using a motion sensor associated with the user equipment from which the movement log is received;
identifying, using the control circuitry, based on the data structure of the first movement log, a first portion of the media asset during which the first user was moving;
identifying, using the control circuitry, based on the data structure of the second movement log, a second portion of the media asset during which the second user was moving; and
determining the portion of the media as an overlapping portion of the first portion and the second portion.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the plurality of movement events of the data structure of the first movement log are associated with movement of the first user, the method further comprising:
determining, using the control circuitry, that the first user equipment corresponds to a third user;
receiving, with the control circuitry, a third movement log from the first user equipment, wherein the third movement log comprises a data structure representing a plurality of movement events associated with movement of the third user;
determining, based on the data structure of the third movement log using the control circuitry, whether the third user was moving during the entirety of the overlapping portion; and
wherein the value indicating how many of the plurality of users were moving for the entirety of the overlapping portion is increased based on determining that the third user was moving during the entirety of the overlapping portion.

4. The method of claim 2 , wherein the data structure of the first movement log comprises a plurality of movement intensities associated with the plurality of movement events associated with the first movement log, the method further comprising:
determining a subset of the movement events associated with the first movement log, wherein the subset of the movement events occurred during the overlapping portion;
computing, using the control circuitry, an aggregated movement intensity associated with the overlapping portion based on the subset of the movement events;
comparing, using the control circuitry, the aggregated movement intensity to a threshold movement intensity;
based on determining that the aggregated movement intensity exceeds the threshold movement intensity, determining, using the control circuitry, that the first user was moving during the overlapping portion; and
wherein inferring how much of the media asset was viewed by the plurality of users is further based on the determining that the first user was moving during the overlapping portion and the aggregated movement intensity.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the computing, using the control circuitry, the number of users who were not engaged in watching the portion of the media asset comprises:
computing a first movement amount of the media asset during which the users corresponding to the portion of the plurality of user equipment were moving based on the overlapping portion,
wherein the value is a first value, wherein the media asset comprises a first segment and a second segment, and wherein the overlapping portion is a first overlapping portion and occurs during the first segment:
computing a second movement amount of the first segment during which the users corresponding to the first portion of the plurality of user equipment were moving based on the first overlapping portion;
determining a second value, wherein the second value indicates how many of the plurality of users were moving for an entirety of a second overlapping portion, wherein the second overlapping portion occurs during the second segment;
based on determining that the second value exceeds the threshold, computing a third movement amount of the second segment during which users corresponding to a second portion of the plurality of user equipment were moving based on the second overlapping portion;
inferring, based on the second movement amount, a first viewing amount, wherein the first viewing amount represents how much of the first segment was viewed by the plurality of users;
inferring, based on the third movement amount, a second viewing amount, wherein the second viewing amount represents how much of the second segment was viewed by the plurality of users;
comparing, the first viewing amount to the second viewing amount to determine that the first viewing amount is greater than the second viewing amount; and
in response to determining that the first viewing amount is greater than the second viewing amount, recommending that supplemental video content be associated with the first segment of the media asset;
automatically associating the supplemental video content with the first segment of the media asset; and
storing, in a database using the control circuitry, an association data structure identifying the first segment and the supplemental video content.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the first segment is associated with a first characteristic, wherein the second segment is associate with a second characteristic, and wherein the media asset is a first media asset, the method further comprising:
identifying, using the control circuitry, a second media asset comprising a third segment associated with the first characteristic; and
recommending, using the control circuitry, that the supplemental video content be associated with the third segment of the second media asset.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the media asset is a first media asset, wherein the plurality of users is a first plurality of users, and wherein inferring how much of the first media asset was viewed by the first plurality of users comprises determining a first viewing amount, wherein the first viewing amount represents how much of the first media asset was viewed b

Assignees

• Rovi Guides Inc

Inventors

• Matthews Sean
• Maughan Benjamin
• Lenhart Kevin Bruce
• Stathacopoulos Paul T
• Corry William K

Classifications

• H04N21/435

  Processing of additional data, e.g. decrypting of additional data, reconstructing software from modules extracted from the transport stream · CPC title

• H04N21/4667

  Processing of monitored end-user data, e.g. trend analysis based on the log file of viewer selections · CPC title

• H04N21/44218 Primary

  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

• H04N21/278

  Content descriptor database or directory service for end-user access {(details of content or meta data based information retrieval of video data in video databases G06F16/739)} · CPC title

• H04N21/252

  Processing of multiple end-users' preferences to derive collaborative data · CPC title