Verifying interconnection between media devices and meters using touch sensing integrated circuits

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10387284-B2
Application number	US-201615371973-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 7, 2016
Priority date	Dec 7, 2016
Publication date	Aug 20, 2019
Grant date	Aug 20, 2019

Abstract

Example methods, apparatus, systems and articles of manufacture (e.g., physical storage media) to verify interconnection between media devices and device meters with touch sensing integrated circuits are disclosed. Example methods disclosed herein include accessing an output of a touch sensing integrated circuit associated with a meter, the touch sensing integrated circuit to electrically couple with an interface of a media device monitored by the meter. Example methods disclosed herein also include determining the meter is coupled to the media device via the interface in response to the output of the touch sensing integrated circuit.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A meter to monitor a media device, the meter comprising:
a touch sensing integrated circuit to electrically couple with an interface of the media device; and
a device interconnection verifier to process an output of the touch sensing integrated circuit to:
determine the meter is coupled to the media device via the interface in response to the output of the touch sensing integrated circuit providing an error indication; and
determine the meter is uncoupled from the media device in response to the output of the touch sensing integrated circuit not providing the error indication.

2. The meter as defined in claim 1 , wherein the touch sensing integrated circuit is also electrically coupled to a reference capacitor having a reference capacitance to cause the output of the touch sensing integrated circuit not to provide the error indication when the meter is uncoupled from the media device.

3. The meter as defined in claim 2 , wherein the reference capacitance is in the range of 100 picofarads to 1 nanofarad.

4. The meter as defined in claim 1 , wherein the interface is a powered interface including a power line driven by the media device, and further including:
a power detector to detect whether power is present on the power line; and
an operating state verifier to determine an operating state of the media device based on whether the power detector detects power on the power line and whether the device interconnection verifier determines the meter is coupled to the media device via the powered interface.

5. The meter as defined in claim 4 , wherein the operating state verifier is to:
determine the operating state of the media device to be an on state in response to the power detector detecting power on the power line;
determine the operating state of the media device to be an off state in response to the power detector not detecting power on the power line and the device interconnection verifier determining the meter is coupled to the media device via the powered interface; and
determine the operating state of the media device to be indeterminate in response to the power detector not detecting power on the power line and the device interconnection verifier determining the meter is uncoupled from the media device.

6. The meter as defined in claim 4 , further including:
a switch; and
a switch controller to control the switch to:
uncouple the touch sensing integrated circuit from the power line in response to the power detector detecting power on the power line; and
couple the touch sensing integrated circuit to the power line in response to the power detector not detecting power on the power line.

7. A method to monitor a media device with a meter, the method comprising:
accessing an output of a touch sensing integrated circuit associated with the meter, the touch sensing integrated circuit to electrically couple with an interface of the media device;
determining, by executing an instruction with a processor, the meter is coupled to the media device via the interface in response to the output of the touch sensing integrated circuit providing an error indication, and
determining, by executing an instruction with a processor, the meter is uncoupled from the media device in response to the output of the touch sensing integrated circuit not providing the error indication.

8. The method as defined in claim 7 , wherein the touch sensing integrated circuit is also electrically coupled to a reference capacitor having a reference capacitance to cause the output of the touch sensing integrated circuit not to provide the error indication when the meter is uncoupled from the media device.

9. The method as defined in claim 8 , wherein the reference capacitance is in the range of 100 picofarads to 1 nanofarad.

10. The method as defined in claim 7 , wherein the interface is a powered interface including a power line driven by the media device, and further including:
detecting whether power is present on the power line; and
determining an operating state of the media device based on whether power is detected on the power line and whether the meter is determined to be coupled to the media device via the powered interface.

11. The method as defined in claim 10 , wherein the determining of the operating state of the media device includes:
determining the operating state of the media device to be an on state in response to detecting power on the power line;
determining the operating state of the media device to be an off state in response to not detecting power on the power line and determining the meter is coupled to the media device via the powered interface; and
determining the operating state of the media device to be indeterminate in response to not detecting power on the power line and determining the meter is uncoupled from the media device.

12. The method as defined in claim 10 , further including;
uncoupling the touch sensing integrated circuit from the power line of the powered interface in response to detecting power on the power line; and
coupling the touch sensing integrated circuit to the power line in response to not detecting power on the power line.

13. A tangible computer readable storage medium comprising computer readable instructions which, when executed, cause a processor to at least:
access an output of a touch sensing integrated circuit associated with a meter, the touch sensing integrated circuit to electrically couple with an interface of a media device to be monitored by the meter;
determine the meter is coupled to the media device via the interface in response to the output of the touch sensing integrated circuit providing an error indication, and
determine the meter is uncoupled from the media device in response to the output of the touch sensing integrated circuit not providing the error indication.

14. The tangible computer readable storage medium of claim 13 , wherein the touch sensing integrated circuit is also electrically coupled to a reference capacitor having a reference capacitance to cause the output of the touch sensing integrated circuit not to provide the error indication when the meter is uncoupled from the media device.

15. The tangible computer readable storage medium of claim 14 , wherein the reference capacitance is in the range of 100 picofarads to 1 nanofarad.

16. The tangible computer readable storage medium of claim 13 , wherein the interface is a powered interface including a power line driven by the media device, and the instructions, when executed, further cause the processor to:
determine whether power is present on the power line; and
determine an operating state of the media device based on whether power is detected on the power line and whether the meter is determined to be coupled to the media device via the powered interface.

17. The tangible computer readable storage medium of claim 16 , wherein to determine the operating state of the media device, the instructions, when executed, cause the processor to:
determine the operating state of the media device to be an on state in response to detecting power on the power line;
determine the operating state of the media device to be an off state in response to not detecting power on the power line and determining the meter is coupled to the media device via the powered interface; and
determine the operating state of the media device to be indeterminate in response to not detecting power on the power line and determining the meter is uncoupled from the media device.

18. The tangible computer readable storage medium o

Assignees

• Nielsen Co Us Llc

Inventors

• Barbis Andrej

Classifications

• H04H60/32 Primary

  Arrangements for monitoring conditions of receiving stations, e.g. malfunction or breakdown of receiving stations · CPC title

• G06F11/3051 Primary

  Monitoring arrangements for monitoring the configuration of the computing system or of the computing system component, e.g. monitoring the presence of processing resources, peripherals, I/O links, software programs (verification or detection of system hardware configuration G06F11/2247) · CPC title

• G06F11/0751

  Error or fault detection not based on redundancy (power supply failures G06F1/30; network fault management H04L41/06) · CPC title

• G06F11/0772

  Means for error signaling, e.g. using interrupts, exception flags, dedicated error registers · CPC title

• G06F11/0736

  in functional embedded systems, i.e. in a data processing system designed as a combination of hardware and software dedicated to performing a certain function (testing or monitoring of automated control systems G05B23/02) · CPC title