Audience attendance monitoring through facial recognition

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2025047934-A1
Application number	US-202418922007-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Oct 21, 2024
Priority date	Jul 18, 2012
Publication date	Feb 6, 2025
Grant date	—

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 obtains identification information for individuals who have agreed to participate in a media viewership totals measurement study, detects a first user of the client system, determines media content being presented in proximity to the first user, automatically determines if the first user is an individual who has agreed to participate in the media viewership totals measurement study; and generates viewership data according to the determination.

First claim

1 . A method comprising:
determining, by a client system, that a user agreed to participate in a media viewership study; displaying, on the client system, media content associated with an event list, the media content being viewed by the user of the client system; based on the user agreeing to participate in the media viewership study, gathering, by the client system, physical indicia information associated with the user while viewing the media content; correlating the physical indicia information to events included in the event list; analyzing an interest of the user in the media content using the physical indicia information associated with description information for the events included in the event list; based on the analyzing of the interest of the user, determining that an event category associated with the media content is of interest to the user; and providing the interest of the user in the event category to a server system for inclusion in the media viewership study.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the method further comprises:
receiving a facial image of the user; and in response to determining that the user agreed to participate in the media viewership study based on the facial image, identifying viewership data associated with the user including (i) non-personally identifiable demographic information of the user, (ii) presence information of the user, and (iii) information identifying the media content.

3 . The method of claim 1 ,
wherein the client system further comprises a presence sensor; and wherein the method further comprises detecting the user of the client system by detecting, via the presence sensor, presence information of the user indicating that the user is in proximity to the client system.

4 . The method of claim 3 ,
wherein the presence sensor is a camera device; and wherein the method further comprises:
gathering the physical indicia information by analyzing at least one image captured by the camera device;
identifying a body position of the user based on the physical indicia information; and
determining an interest of the user in the media content based on the body position of the user.

5 . The method of claim 3 , wherein the method further comprises discarding the presence information of the user after a predetermined amount of time.

6 . The method of claim 1 ,
wherein the description information includes at least one category for describing an event in the event list; and wherein determining that an event category associated with the media content is of interest to the user further comprises determining that the at least one category for describing the event is of interest to the user.

7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein each event included in the event list includes at least one of an event identifier, a time, a duration, an on screen location, and a description.

8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the description information includes a textual description of an event included in the event list.

9 . An electronic device comprising:
one or more processors; and memory storing one or more programs to be executed by the one or more processors, the one or more programs comprising instructions for:
determining, by a client system, that a user agreed to participate in a media viewership study;
displaying, on the client system, media content associated with an event list, the media content being viewed by the user of the client system;
based on the user agreeing to participate in the media viewership study, gathering, by the client system, physical indicia information associated with the user while viewing the media content;
correlating the physical indicia information to events included in the event list;
analyzing an interest of the user in the media content using the physical indicia information associated with description information for the events included in the event list;
based on the analyzing of the interest of the user, determining that an event category associated with the media content is of interest to the user; and
providing the interest of the user in the event category to a server system for inclusion in the media viewership study.

10 . The electronic device of claim 9 , wherein the one or more programs further include instructions for:
receiving a facial image of the user; and in response to determining that the user is an individual who has agreed to participate in the media viewership study based on the facial image, identifying viewership data associated with the user including (i) non-personally identifiable demographic information of the user, (ii) presence information of the user, and (iii) information identifying the media content.

11 . The electronic device of claim 9 ,
wherein the electronic device includes a presence sensor; and wherein the one or more programs further include instructions for detecting the user of the client system by detecting, via the presence sensor, presence information of the user indicating that the user is in proximity to the client system.

12 . The electronic device of claim 11 ,
wherein the presence sensor is a camera device; and wherein the one or more programs further include instructions for:
gathering the physical indicia information by analyzing at least one image captured by the camera device;
identifying a body position of the user based on the physical indicia information; and
determining an interest of the user in the media content based on the body position of the user.

13 . The electronic device of claim 11 , further including instructions for discarding the presence information of the user after a predetermined amount of time.

14 . The electronic device of claim 9 ,
wherein the description information includes at least one category for describing an event in the event list; and wherein determining that an event category associated with the media content is of interest to the user further comprises determining that the at least one category for describing the event is of interest to the user.

15 . A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising computer executable instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform a method comprising:
determining, by a client system, that a user agreed to participate in a media viewership study; displaying, on the client system, media content associated with an event list, the media content being viewed by the user of the client system; based on the user agreeing to participate in the media viewership study, gathering, by the client system, physical indicia information associated with the user while viewing the media content; correlating the physical indicia information to events included in the event list; analyzing an interest of the user in the media content using the physical indicia information associated with description information for the events included in the event list for the media content; based on the analyzing of the interest of the user, determining that an event category associated with the media content is of interest to the user; and providing the interest of the user in the event category to a server system for inclusion in the media viewership study.

16 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15 , wherein the method further comprises:
receiving a facial image of the user; and in response to determining that the user agreed to participate in the media viewership study based on the facial image, identifying viewership data associated with the user including (i) non-personally identifiable demographic information

Assignees

• Google Llc

Inventors

• Deephanphongs David
• Krieger Ken

Classifications

• G06V40/161

  Detection; Localisation; Normalisation · CPC title

• G06V40/10

  Human or animal bodies, e.g. vehicle occupants or pedestrians; Body parts, e.g. hands · 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

• H04N21/4223

  Cameras (H04N23/00 takes precedence) · CPC title

• H04N21/25866

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