Methods and apparatus to monitor media presentations

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9510049-B2
Application number	US-201314073656-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 6, 2013
Priority date	Mar 7, 2013
Publication date	Nov 29, 2016
Grant date	Nov 29, 2016

Abstract

Methods and apparatus to monitor media presentations are disclosed. An example method includes obtaining demographic information of a user associated with a media device, the media device including monitoring functionality. An agreement is presented to the user via the media device. The monitoring functionality is enabled to monitor at least one of media presentation or user interaction via the control processor if the agreement is accepted.

First claim

I claim:

1. A television comprising:
a processor;
a display;
a first media input;
a user input to receive user input; and
a first monitor installed in the television at a time of manufacture of the television, the first monitor including:
a registration data receiver to obtain demographic information of a user via the user input;
a logging data receiver to, when enabled, collect first monitoring information identifying first media, the first media presented via the display, the logging data receiver to receive the first monitoring information from a second monitor of a media device separate from the television, the media device to transmit the first media to the television via the first media input;
an overlay controller to present a monitoring agreement to the user via the display of the television; and
a first data controller to enable the logging data receiver to collect the first monitoring information if the monitoring agreement is accepted, the first data controller to not enable the logging data receiver if the monitoring agreement is not accepted, the first data controller to communicate with a second data controller of the second monitor to select the first monitor to act as a master monitor, the second monitor to transmit the first monitoring information to a central facility of the audience measurement entity via the master monitor.

2. The television disclosed in claim 1 , wherein the first monitor further includes a network communicator to transmit the demographic information to the central facility of the audience measurement entity.

3. The television disclosed in claim 1 , wherein the first monitor further includes a network communicator to transmit the first monitoring information to the central facility of the audience measurement entity.

4. The television disclosed in claim 1 , wherein the first data controller is further to determine an incentive to offer the user in the monitoring agreement, the incentive being based on the demographic information.

5. The television as disclosed in claim 4 , wherein the overlay controller is to present the incentive in association with the monitoring agreement.

6. The television as disclosed in claim 1 , wherein the first monitor is implemented by a logic circuit.

7. The television as disclosed in claim 1 , further including a switch to select one of the first media received via the first media input or second media received via a second media input for presentation via the display, the logging data receiver to collect the first monitoring information when the switch selects the first media for presentation via the display.

8. The television as disclosed in claim 7 , wherein the processor is to transmit an instruction to the switch to control the selection of the one of the first media or the second media for presentation via the display, and the logging data receiver is further to analyze the instruction transmitted from the processor to the switch to determine the input selection of the switch.

9. The television as disclosed in claim 1 , wherein the first data controller is further to communicate with the second data controller to enable a second logging data receiver of the second monitor in response to acceptance of the monitoring agreement.

10. The television as disclosed in claim 1 , wherein the selection of the first monitor to act as the master monitor is based on a capacity of a memory of at least one of the television or the media device.

11. The television as disclosed in claim 1 , wherein the selection of the first monitor to act as the master monitor is based on an expected longevity of at least one of the television or the media device.

12. The television as disclosed in claim 1 , wherein the selection of the first monitor to act as the master monitor is based on an ability of the television or the media device to receive user input.

13. The television as disclosed in claim 1 , wherein the selection of the first monitor to act as the master monitor is based on an ability of the television or the media device to communicate with the central facility.

14. The television as disclosed in claim 1 , wherein the first monitor is provided to a first manufacturer of the television by the audience measurement entity.

15. The television as disclosed in claim 14 , wherein the second monitor is provided to a second manufacturer of the media device by the audience measurement entity.

Assignees

• Zimmerman Mark C
• Nielsen Co Us Llc

Inventors

• Zimmerman Mark C

Classifications

• G06Q30/02

  Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising · 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

• H04N21/44227

  Monitoring of local network, e.g. connection or bandwidth variations; Detecting new devices in the local network (configuring of peripheral devices in general G06F9/4411; monitoring connectivity in data switched networks H04L43/0811) · CPC title

• H04N21/25883 Primary

  being end-user demographical data, e.g. age, family status or address (arrangements for identifying locations of users in broadcast systems H04H60/52) · CPC title

• G06Q30/0241

  Advertisements · CPC title