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

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11042460-B2
Application number	US-201916544132-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 19, 2019
Priority date	Dec 7, 2016
Publication date	Jun 22, 2021
Grant date	Jun 22, 2021

Abstract

An example meter to monitor a media device disclosed herein includes a circuit having (i) a circuit input to electrically couple with a reference capacitor and an input power line of the meter that is to electrically couple with an output power line of the media device, and (ii) a circuit output to provide a first value based on the reference capacitor when the input power line of the meter is not electrically coupled with the output power line of the media device, and a second value when the input power line of the meter is electrically coupled with the output power line of the media device. The disclosed example meter also includes a processor to determine whether the input power line of the meter is electrically coupled with the output power line of the media device based on whether the circuit output provides second value.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A meter to monitor a media device, the meter comprising:
a touch sensing circuit including a circuit input and a circuit output, the circuit input to electrically couple with an input power line of the meter and a reference capacitor, the input power line of the meter to electrically couple with an output power line of the media device, the circuit output to provide a first value based on the reference capacitor when the input power line of the meter is not electrically coupled with the output power line of the media device, the circuit output to provide a second value different from the first value when the input power line of the meter is electrically coupled with the output power line of the media device;
memory including computer readable instructions; and
a processor to execute the instructions to at least:
detect whether the input power line of the meter is powered;
control a switch to uncouple the circuit input from the input power line of the meter when the input power line of the meter is powered; and
when the input power line of the meter is not powered, determine whether the input power line of the meter is electrically coupled with the output power line of the media device based on whether the circuit output provides the second value.

2. The meter of claim 1 , wherein when the input power line of the meter is not powered, the processor is to:
determine the input power line of the meter is electrically coupled with the output power line of the media device when the circuit output provides the second value; and
determine the input power line of the meter is not electrically coupled with the output power line of the media device when the circuit output does not provide the second value.

3. The meter of claim 2 , wherein the circuit output includes a register, the second value corresponds to a register value associated with an error indication, and the first value corresponds to a register value not associated with the error indication.

4. The meter of claim 2 , wherein when the input power line of the meter is not powered, the processor is to determine the media device is powered off when the circuit output provides the second value.

5. The meter of claim 4 , wherein when the input power line of the meter is not powered, the processor is to determine the media device is disconnected from the meter when the circuit output does not provide the second value.

6. The meter of claim 4 , wherein when the input power line of the meter is powered, the processor is to determine the media device is powered on.

7. The meter of claim 1 , wherein the processor is to control the switch to couple the circuit input with the input power line of the meter when the input power line of the meter is not powered.

8. The meter of claim 1 , wherein the switch is a first switch, and the processor is to control a second switch to:
couple a battery to the input power line of the meter when the input power line of the meter is powered; and
uncouple the battery from the input power line of the meter when the input power line of the meter is not powered, the battery to power the meter when the input power line of the meter is not powered.

9. A meter to monitor a media device, the meter comprising:
an integrated circuit to sense touch, the integrated circuit having a circuit input electrically coupled with an input power line of the meter, the input power line of the meter to electrically couple with an output power line of the media device; and
means for determining whether the input power line of the meter is electrically coupled with the output power line of the media device based on a circuit output of the integrated circuit, the means for determining to:
determine the input power line of the meter is electrically coupled with the output power line of the media device when the circuit output of the integrated circuit provides an error condition; and
determine the input power line of the meter is not electrically coupled with the output power line of the media device when the circuit output of the integrated circuit does not provide the error condition.

10. The meter of claim 9 , wherein the circuit input of the integrated circuit is also electrically coupled with a reference capacitor, the reference capacitor to have a capacitance in a range that is to cause the circuit output of the integrated circuit not to provide the error condition when the input power line of the meter is not electrically coupled with the output power line of the media device.

11. The meter of claim 9 , further including:
means for detecting whether the input power line of the meter is powered; and
means for determining an operating state of the media device.

12. The meter of claim 11 , wherein the means for determining the operating state of the media device is to determine the media device is powered on when the input power line of the meter is powered.

13. The meter of claim 11 , wherein the means for determining the operating state of the media device is to determine the media device is powered off when (i) the input power line of the meter is not powered, and (ii) the circuit output of the integrated circuit provides the error condition.

14. The meter of claim 11 , wherein the means for determining the operating state of the media device is to determine the media device is disconnected from the meter when (i) the input power line of the meter is not powered, and (ii) the circuit output of the integrated circuit does not provide the error condition.

15. The meter of claim 9 , further including means for controlling whether the circuit input of the integrated circuit is electrically coupled with the input power line of the meter.

16. The meter of claim 15 , wherein the means for controlling is to uncouple the circuit input of the integrated circuit from the input power line of the meter when the input power line of the meter is powered.

17. The meter of claim 16 , wherein the means for controlling is to couple the circuit input of the integrated circuit to the input power line of the meter when the input power line of the meter is not powered.

18. The meter of claim 15 , wherein the means for controlling is to control whether a battery is electrically coupled to the input power line of the meter, the battery to power the meter when the input power line of the meter is not powered.

19. The meter of claim 18 , wherein the means for controlling is to:
electrically couple the battery to the input power line of the meter when the input power line of the meter is powered; and
uncouple the battery from the input power line of the meter when the input power line of the meter is not powered.

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

• G06F11/0736

  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

• 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