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`Case 3:l6—cv—O2433 Document 1-5 Filed 05/04/16 Page 1 of 21
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`EXHIBIT E 
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`EXHIBIT E
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`Case 3:16-cv—O2433 Document lllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll
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`Case 3:16-cv-02433 Document 1-5 Filed 05/04/16 Page 2 of 21
`US00653
`82B1
`
`(12) United States Patent
`Del Sesto et al.
`
`(10) Patent N0.:
`(45) Date of Patent:
`
`US 6,530,082 B1
`Mar. 4, 2003
`
`(54) CONFIGURABLE MONITORING OF
`PROGRAM VIEWERSHIP AND USAGE OF
`
`(75)
`
`INTERACTIVE APPLICATIONS
`Inventors: Eric E. De] Sesto, Alameda, CA (US);
`Timothy V. Travaille, Bellevue, WA
`(US); Christopher J. Michel, Burbank,
`CA (Us), Jana J_ Paquette, Oakland,
`ME (Us)
`
`(73) Assignee: EVAin(l:J§I)0mmunicati0ns, Inc., Alameda,
`.
`.
`.
`.
`.
`(*) N0t1ee3
`Subleette any dlselalmerg the term of th15
`Patent 15 extended Or adlusted under 35
`U~S~C~ 154(b) by 0 daY5-
`
`(21) Appl. No.: 09/071,003
`(22)
`Filed:
`Apr‘ 30, 1998
`
`(51)
`
`7
`Int- CL --------------------------- ~~ H04N 9/00$ H04N 7/16
`
`(52) US. Cl.
`
`............................ .. 725/9; 725/131; 725/14
`
`(58) Field of Search .............................. .. 725/9, 20, 16,
`725/32, 34, 100, 131, 139, 151, 14, 709/224,
`310, 713/2, H04N 9/00, 7/16, 7/10, 7/025,
`7/173, G06F 15/173, 15/163, 9/00, 9/54,
`9/445
`
`(56)
`
`References Cited
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`4,484,217 A
`4,536,791 A
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`
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`11/1984 Block et al.
`8/1985 Campbell et 211.
`6/1986 Fascerlda Ct at
`
`4/1987 MeKenna eta1-
`11/1987 Young
`5/1988 Von Kohom
`10/1989 Von Kohom
`5/1990 Von Kohom
`10/1990 Harvey et al.
`
`OTHER PUBLICATIONS
`
`I
`S. Wolf and B. Latane; If Laboratory Research Doesnt
`Square with You, then Qube It: The Potential of Interactive
`g(\):,i:?rP::;1:110 PSy§E?11f:C:igIiC23O1Re7Se2I1\§:)h;2 Pirlionfélgi, and
`344_351§
`gy
`’
`'
`’
`'
`’
`'
`’ PP"
`.
`.
`.
`'
`Przmary ExamLner—Andrew Faile
`Assistant Examiner—Andrew Y Koenig
`(74) Attorney, Agent, or Firm—Fenwick & West LLP
`(57)
`ABSTRACT
`A system and method provide sophisticated analysis of
`program viewership by executing interactive applications
`that generate responses describing the viewers’ behavior. A
`broadcast server maintains a database of interactive appli-
`cations each preferably associated with a program that will
`be broadcast. The interactive applications preferably include
`monitoring interactive applications. that are configured. to
`selectively monitor viewership,
`interactive application
`usage, and reception terminal usage. When the program is
`broadcast, the monitoring interactive application is inserted
`into the broadcast feed and delivered to a broadcast receiver
`
`such as a television set—top box, The broadcast receiver
`includes a processor, memory, and other hardware necessary
`to execute the interactive application. When executed, the
`interactive application monitors usage of the broadcast
`receiver, including, for example, the program watched by
`the subscriber,
`the entry and exit paths to the program,
`whether the volume was changed during the program, and
`the usage of interactive applications. The monitored data is
`sent in a response packet
`to a local data center at, for
`example, the cable headend. The local data center supple-
`
`such as the subscriber’s age, race, and income. Information
`about all of the subscribers is aggregated by the local data
`center and transmitted to a master data center. The master
`
`data center aggregates all of the received information
`.
`.
`.
`.
`.
`.
`.
`’
`sufpplentients itd if possible Wlttht a(;lt(1l1I1tE)Ilald subscribder
`in orma ion, an proyi es repor s o
`e
`roa cas er in 1-
`cating the geographic, demographic, and psychographic
`Profiles Of the Program V1€W€rS~
`
`(List continued on next page.)
`
`29 Claims, 7 Drawing Sheets
`
`BROADCASTER114
`Y
`
`B5110
`
`BR 120
`
`LDC 122
`
`MDC128
`
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`y
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`RESPONSES 424
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`426
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`423
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`

`
`Case 3:16-cv-02433 Document 1-5 Filed 05/04/16 Page 3 of 21
`Case 3:16—cv—O2433 Document 1-5 Filed 05/04/16 Page 3 of 21
`
`US 6,530,082 B1
`Page 2
`
`Filepp et al.
`Klappert et al.
`Remillard
`Hooper et al.
`Kidrin
`Miller et al.
`........... .. 725/9
`Hendricks et al.
`Herz et al. ................ .. 725/116
`Lu et al. ................... .. 382/116
`Hendricks et al.
`725/46
`
`Bedard ...................... .. 725/46
`Ellis et al.
`................ .. 348/327
`
`Ivanyi
`725/14
`Houston .................... .. 725/20
`
`9/1994
`2/1995
`4/1995
`6/1995
`6/1995
`12/1996
`2/1997
`5/1998
`6/1998
`8/1998
`9/1998
`11/1999
`8/2001
`3/2002
`
`********
`
`>>>>>>>>>>>>
`
`B1
`B1
`
`5,347,632
`5,394,182
`5,404,393
`5,422,674
`5,423,555
`5,585,866
`5,600,364
`5,758,257
`5,771,307
`5,798,785
`5,801,747
`5,986,650
`6,286,140
`6,353,929
`
`* cited by examiner
`
`U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS
`
`4,977,455
`5,013,038
`5,034,807
`5,057,915
`5,083,800
`5,120,076
`5,128,752
`5,155,591
`5,227,874
`5,249,044
`5,251,324
`5,253,341
`5,283,734
`5,343,239
`
`>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
`
`12/1990
`5/1991
`7/1991
`10/1991
`1/1992
`6/1992
`7/1992
`10/1992
`7/1993
`9/1993
`10/1993
`10/1993
`2/1994
`8/1994
`
`Young
`Luxenberg et al.
`Von Kohorn
`Von Kohorn
`Lockton
`Luxenberg et al.
`Von Kohorn
`Wachob
`Von Kohorn
`Von Kohorn
`McMu11an, Jr.
`Rozmanith et al.
`Von Kohorn
`Lappington et 211.
`
`

`
`Case 3:16-cv-02433 Document 1-5 Filed 05/04/16 Page 4 of 21
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`Case 3:16-cv-02433 Document 1-5 Filed 05/04/16 Page 5 of 21
`Case 3:16—cv—O2433 Document 1-5 Filed 05/04/16 Page 5 Of 21
`
`U.S. Patent
`
`Mar. 4, 2003
`
`Sheet 2 of 7
`
`US 6,530,082 B1
`
`FV(i.2
`
`BROADCAST
`
`RECEIVER
`120
`
`IIIIII I
`
`USER INPUT
`RECEIVER
`22
`
`USER INPUT
`DECODER
`22
`
`M|CRO—
`PROCESSOR
`22
`
`|REi]%|gIé|/QED
`226
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`22
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`EXTRACTOR
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`GRAPHBS
`OVERLAY
`GENERATOR
`
`Zlfi
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`STORAGE DEVICE
`E
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`292
`
`STORAGE
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`
`212
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`232
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`212 I
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`21§
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`

`
`Case 3:16-cv-02433 Document 1-5 Filed 05/04/16 Page 6 of 21
`Case 3:16—cv—O2433 Document 1-5 Filed 05/04/16 Page 6 of 21
`
`U.S. Patent
`
`Mar. 4, 2003
`
`Sheet 3 of 7
`
`US 6,530,082 B1
`
`FIG. 3
`
`RECEIVE AND
`DECODE HEADER
`
`
`
` 310
`
` RECEIVE, STORE,
`
`AND DECODE
`
`
`DEFINITIONS,
`SCRIPTS, AND
`
`COMMANDS
`
`
`
`PERFORM
`
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`DISPLAY
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`OBJECTS, RUN
`
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`SCRIPTS
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` RECEIVE AND
`
`DECODE
`
`UPDATES
`
` APPLICATION DEFINITION
`COMPLETE?
`
`Yes
`
`STOP
`
`312
`
`314
`
`316
`
`318
`
`320
`
`

`
`Case 3:16-cv-02433 Document 1-5 Filed 05/04/16 Page 7 of 21
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`Case 3:16-cv-02433 Document 1-5 Filed 05/04/16 Page 11 of 21
`Case 3:16—cv—O2433 Document 1-5 Filed 05/04/16 Page 11 of 21
`
`US 6,530,082 B1
`
`1
`CONFIGURABLE MONITORING OF
`PROGRAM VIEWERSHIP AND USAGE OF
`INTERACTIVE APPLICATIONS
`
`CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED
`APPLICATIONS
`
`The subject matter of this application is related to the
`subject matter of U.S. Pat. No. 5,689,799, entitled
`“METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR ROUTING CONFI-
`DENTIAL INFORMATION”, which issued on Nov. 18,
`1997 and the following applications: application Ser. No.
`08/429,064, entitled “METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR
`DETERMINING BROADCASTER INFORMATION”,
`filed on Apr. 26, 1995, application Ser. No. 08/429,107,
`entitled “COMPACT GRAPHICAL INTERACTIVE
`
`INFORMATION SYSTEM”, filed on Apr. 26, 1995, and
`application Ser. No. 09/070,757, entitled “RESPONSE
`CAPACITY MANAGEMENT IN INTERACTIVE
`BROADCAST SYSTEMS BY PERIODIC RECONFIGU-
`RATION OF RESPONSE PRIORITIES”, filed on even date
`herewith. The above patent and applications have the same
`assignee as the present invention and are incorporated herein
`by reference in their entirety.
`
`BACKGROUND
`
`1. Field of Invention
`
`The present invention relates generally to systems and
`methods for determining television and interactive applica-
`tion viewership and, more particularly,
`to systems and
`methods for selectively controlling the monitoring of such
`viewership and usage on a program specific level.
`2. Background of the Invention
`Commercial television programming is generally funded
`by advertising revenue. The determination of how much a
`broadcaster can charge advertisers for placing an advertise-
`ment during a given time slot in a given television show
`depends on knowing how many people are likely to be
`watching at the time the advertisement is aired. This type of
`viewership data, or ‘rating’, has normally been collected
`through various manual and automatic processes. Manual
`processes typically include a preselected number of house-
`holds of viewers, and requires the viewers to manually
`record what television shows are being watched, at what
`times, and by whom. This intrusive process interferes with
`the viewers’ watching behavior and necessarily relies on the
`viewers accurately reporting their television viewing behav-
`ior.
`
`To overcome the accuracy and intrusiveness problems,
`automatic methods typically rely on detecting channel selec-
`tion in the broadcast receiver, and recording data indicative
`of such selection in some memory, or transmitting data of
`such selection to a central repository. Various means have
`been used to detect channel selection behavior in broadcast
`
`top boxes, and video
`receivers, such as televisions, set
`cassette recorders. Transmitting channel selection data has
`typically involved transmission by secondary telephone
`lines, or by polling in a cable system. Signals to control
`monitoring times have been transmitted to broadcast receiv-
`ers using telephone, microwave,
`radio frequency
`transmitters, or the cable system itself. For example, U.S.
`Pat. No. 5,251,324 to McMullan, Jr. et al., discloses sending
`information about specific recording times to a remote
`terminal such as a set top box directly via cable lines.
`These automated systems and methods, however have
`various limitations. While the actual information of interest
`
`10
`
`15
`
`20
`
`25
`
`30
`
`35
`
`40
`
`45
`
`50
`
`55
`
`60
`
`65
`
`2
`to the broadcaster is what particular television programs are
`being watched and when, these techniques instead focus on
`detecting channel selection behavior, and use this informa-
`tion as a proxy for the television programs being watched.
`This is generally because the various types of broadcast
`receivers typically have the capability to only tune to
`specific channels, and at best store very limited data indica-
`tive of the channel.
`
`Because prior techniques attempt only to detect channel
`selections, they are not able to more precisely control, on an
`individual basis, which television programs are monitored.
`Further, because channel selection is the primary data being
`monitored, prior techniques have not addressed controlling
`the level of detailed information that is monitored, such as
`how long a particular television program is watched, which
`particular portions of a television show are watched, which
`television program was watched prior to a monitored tele-
`vision program, or which television program was watched
`after a monitored television program. This detail is typically
`not captured because broadcast receivers typically do not
`provide a platform for executing configurable monitoring
`applications that are associated with particular television
`programs.
`
`Further, conventional monitoring methods depend on the
`pre-selection of a number of households that will have the
`monitoring equipment or capability installed. As a result,
`there is little, if any, ability to dynamically configure which
`households are included in a particular monitoring event for
`a particular television program.
`Another limitation of conventional monitoring methods is
`their inapplicability to monitoring the use of interactive
`applications. Interactive television has been much discussed,
`but rarely implemented beyond very small test markets.
`However, truly national broadcasting of interactive applica-
`tions which enhance the viewing of television programs,
`advertisements, and other programminng material will ben-
`efit from usage data indicating the usage rate of interactive
`applications. Since interactive applications may be operated
`in a channel
`independent manner, conventional channel
`selection monitoring methods do not accurately track usage
`of interactive applications.
`Accordingly,
`it
`is desirable to provide a system and
`method for precisely monitoring the viewership of television
`programs and the usage of interactive applications. It is
`further desirable to provide a system and method that allows
`for dynamic configuration of which television programs and
`interactive applications are monitored and the level of
`detailed information that is captured during the monitoring
`period.
`
`SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
`
`The present invention overcomes the limitations of con-
`ventional television viewing monitoring techniques by pro-
`viding a system and method that allows for specification of
`individual television programs and interactive applications
`to be monitored, along with specific control over the level
`and type of detailed information to be captured during
`monitoring. The monitoring is silent because the viewer is
`not required to initiate the monitoring and need not know
`that monitoring is occurring. The present invention further
`allows the monitored data from individual televisions, set
`top boxes, video cassette recorders, and other broadcast
`receivers to be accumulated and aggregated at local and
`national levels, and augmented with demographic or psy-
`chographic data about
`the viewing audience. This aug-
`mented data provides the broadcaster with a very precise
`
`

`
`Case 3:16-cv-02433 Document 1-5 Filed 05/04/16 Page 12 of 21
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`
`US 6,530,082 B1
`
`3
`analysis of the audience viewing particular television pro-
`grams or using particular interactive applications. For
`example,
`the present
`invention allows a broadcaster to
`accurately determine the percentage of households with an
`income over $50,000 that watched a certain commercial
`broadcast 15 minutes into a single episode of a particular
`situation comedy.
`invention
`A system in accordance with the present
`includes a number of broadcast receivers, such as set top
`boxes, televisions, video cassette recorders, and the like, that
`are configured to include a microprocessor and a memory
`for storing and executing interactive applications. The inter-
`active applications are broadcast with the television broad-
`cast signal, and typically accompany television programs or
`advertisements, but may be independent of either.
`The system also includes a broadcaster that is the source
`of broadcast data including television programs,
`commercials, and interactive applications. The broadcaster
`typically includes an automated broadcast selection mecha-
`nism to automatically control the selection of broadcast data
`according to a playlist which defines that specific sequence
`of broadcast data,
`typically including the start
`time,
`program, and channel identity of each item of data being
`broadcast. The broadcaster includes a data insertion unit that
`
`inserts a monitoring interactive application into a program or
`broadcast signal. The broadcast signal is then broadcast by
`a transmitter.
`
`Communicatively coupled to the broadcaster is a broad-
`cast server that receives from the automated broadcast
`
`selection mechanism the playlist of broadcast data. The
`broadcast server also maintains a database of interactive
`
`applications, including monitoring interactive applications.
`The various interactive applications are associated with
`individual broadcasters, television programs, and commer-
`cials. The broadcast server correlates particular ones of the
`interactive applications, and especially the monitoring inter-
`active applications with particular broadcast data that is to
`be monitored. These selected monitoring interactive appli-
`cations are communicated to the data insertion unit which
`
`inserts them into the broadcast signal to accompany the
`particular broadcast data to be monitored.
`The broadcast signal containing the monitoring interac-
`tive application and the broadcast data to be monitored is
`received by any broadcast receiver tuned to the specific
`channel upon which the monitoring interactive application is
`broadcast. Thus only those broadcast receivers that are tuned
`to such channel will receive the monitoring interactive
`application.
`However, instead of requiring monitoring at each and
`every broadcast receiver that so receives the broadcast
`signal, the monitoring interactive application includes data
`and algorithms which selectively control which broadcast
`receivers monitor viewership or usage. The monitoring
`algorithms of the monitoring interactive application are
`configurable for each individual
`television program,
`commercial, or interactive application to be monitored to
`adjust the sample size in response to .predicted market share,
`time of day, and other factors. For example, for a very
`popular television program watched by millions of viewers,
`the monitoring interactive application may be configured to
`create 1% sample of about 10,000 viewers. For a less
`popular television program with only about 100,000
`viewers, the monitoring interactive application may be con-
`figured to create a 10% sample. This ability to control
`sample size avoids overloading the response capacity of the
`monitoring system and enhances the precision with which
`viewership data is collected.
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`In addition, the monitoring interactive applications may
`be individually configured to control the level or type of
`detailed information that is monitored. A basic level of
`monitoring is determining whether the particular television
`program or commercial is being watched at all. In addition,
`the monitoring interactive application may be configured to
`determine the total amount of time the program was
`watched, the starting and ending viewing times, the channel
`entry path (which channel was being watched or other event
`prior to the current program being monitored), the channel
`exit path (which channel was watched or other event, after
`or during, the current program being monitored), and the
`volume settings during the monitored program. Also, the
`monitoring interactive application may be configured to
`monitor aspects of a channel or network, such as start and
`ending times, and entry and exits paths.
`Finally, as a further embodiment of the present invention,
`the monitoring applications may be configured to monitor
`functionality of the broadcast receiver itself, so that this
`information may be provided to a manufacturer of the
`broadcast receiver. Features of the broadcast receiver that
`
`may be monitored include, for example, whether a picture-
`in-picture (PIP) function is used (including size, location,
`and channel selection of the PIP), which video inputs are
`active, whether an upstream tuner is used in conjunction
`with the broadcast receiver, and use of features such as mute,
`closed-captioning, stereo surround, and so forth.
`In this embodiment, the monitoring interactive applica-
`tions operate invisibly to the viewers so that viewers need
`not manually initiate monitoring of their viewing behaviors.
`The monitoring interactive application may be configured to
`operate automatically in this fashion, or to be initiated by a
`viewer.
`
`Beyond monitoring television programs and
`commercials, the monitoring algorithms and data may be
`embedded in any interactive application that provides inter-
`active functionality to the user. Example interactive appli-
`cations include applications for registering viewer feedback
`during a television program, applications providing sport
`statistics during an accompanying sports broadcast, appli-
`cations providing financial data or weather information, and
`applications for purchasing advertised items or services.
`These and other types of interactive applications may
`include the monitoring algorithms and data and thereby be
`able to selectively monitor the usage of these applications
`along the same dimensions as mentioned above. In addition,
`an interactive application can report which of its forms were
`used, the amount of time spent on each form, the entry and
`exit time on each form, the entry and exit path of each form
`(i.e. previous and next form), and viewer channel selections
`during use of the interactive application. This type of precise
`monitoring informs the owner of the interactive application
`of the usage and effectiveness of the application.
`The preferred system includes a number of data centers,
`each operating, for example, at a local cable system provid-
`ing cable service to a number of broadcast receivers in a
`local service area. Each broadcast receiver that is monitoring
`transmits a response to its local data center. The response
`includes the monitoring data, along with an identification
`code for the monitoring interactive application that per-
`formed the monitoring, and an identification code of the
`broadcast receiver providing the response. The data center
`receives the responses from the various local broadcast
`receivers and aggregates them into an aggregate set of data.
`The aggregate data describes local rating and usage infor-
`mation for the monitored program or interactive application
`in various geographic areas. In addition, the data center is
`
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`US 6,530,082 B1
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`5
`communicatively coupled to a database of subscriber infor-
`mation that is indexed by the broadcast receiver’s terminal
`identification codes. Using the broadcast receiver identifi-
`cation code,
`the data center obtains and aggregates the
`subscriber information in the database, thereby providing,
`for example, aggregate viewership data with respect
`to
`geographic location. The data center may be further coupled
`to geographic, demographic and/or psychographic data
`collections, including such data as household income, racial
`classifications,
`interests and preferences, and the like in
`order to create detailed reports about viewership and usage.
`The aggregated reports from various data centers are
`transmitted to a central data center, where they are further
`aggregated to refiect a regional or national level of data. The
`data center generates these regionally aggregated reports,
`and provides them to the various broadcasters.
`A method of selectively monitoring broadcast data in
`accordance with the present invention includes receiving at
`a broadcast receiver an interactive application accompany-
`ing a broadcast program, executing the interactive applica-
`tion to selectively determine whether the broadcast program
`accompanying the interactive application is to be monitored,
`responsive to this determination, configuring the interactive
`application to monitor selected attributes of viewership of
`the broadcast program, and monitoring the selected
`attributes of viewership by storing data indicative of the
`selected attributes. As an additional step,
`the method
`includes configuring an interactive application by defining
`the selected attributes of a broadcast program to be
`monitored, storing within the interactive application data
`indicative of the selected attributes, and transmitting the
`interactive application so configured to the remote broadcast
`reception terminal.
`BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
`
`FIG. 1 is a high-level block diagram illustrating a system
`for performing usage and viewership monitoring according
`to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.
`FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an embodiment of
`a broadcast receiver according to an embodiment of the
`present invention.
`FIG. 3 is a flow chart illustrating steps for receiving and
`operating an interactive application according to an embodi-
`ment of the present invention.
`FIG. 4 is an event diagram tracing the construction,
`transmission, and execution of an interactive application for
`monitoring, and the processing of responses generated there-
`from.
`
`illustrating an embodiment of the
`FIG. 5 is a chart
`response packet generated by the broadcast receiver and
`transmitted to the local data center.
`
`FIG. 6 illustrates sample reports that may be generated by
`the master data center from the aggregate responses.
`DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE
`PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
`
`Referring now to FIG. 1, there is shown an illustration of
`a system in accordance with the present invention. It will be
`appreciated that the system illustrated in FIG. 1 may be
`incorporated into larger, more complex systems while still
`providing the features and benefits of the invention.
`Generally, system 100 includes a broadcaster 114, a broad-
`cast server 110, a data insertion unit 116, and at least one
`broadcast receiver (“BR”) 120.
`to be
`The broadcaster 114 provides program material
`broadcast to the BRs 120. As used herein, a “broadcaster”
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`114 is any entity providing a program that will be carried on
`a broadcast signal. A “program” is a discrete segment of a
`broadcast. Thus, as defined herein, program includes tele-
`vision shows, commercials, public service announcements,
`pay-per-view events, and the like. Broadcasters include
`television networks, as well as advertisers who prepare
`commercials, pay-per-view providers, cable networks, and
`the like. A typical broadcaster 114 maintains program
`sources, such as banks of video cassette players, video disc
`players, film, and the like containing program material;
`automation systems that selectively control
`the program
`sources to select which units provide program material at
`which times; and switching systems controlled by the auto-
`mation systems which couple the program sources to respec-
`tive broadcast media for controlling which program sources
`output to which broadcast media at any given time. The
`person or persons receiving the programs are referred to as
`“subscribers” or “viewers.”
`
`The broadcast server 110 is preferably a computer system
`executing a software program providing the functionality
`described herein. The broadcast server 110 contains an
`interactive application database 112 holding interactive
`applications that will be broadcast
`to various remotely
`distributed BRs 120. Interactive applications may be added
`to the interactive applications database 112 by a broadcaster
`114 or other program supplier and may be transmitted to the
`database 112 by a secure network link or other transmission
`media. Fields within the database 112 associate interactive
`applications with, for example, a particular broadcaster,
`network, channel, program, and/or broadcast
`time.
`In
`addition, each interactive application in the database 112
`preferably has a unique interactive application identification
`code by which it may be identified.
`In one embodiment of the present invention, the interac-
`tive applications stored in the database 112 are described by
`a compact communications protocol. The compact protocol
`is designed to broadcast a compact set of information and
`commands among the system components in an efficient
`manner, thereby allowing the use of low bandwidth trans-
`ports such as the vertical blanking interval (VBI). While a
`preferred embodiment of the present
`invention uses the
`compact protocol described therein, interactive applications
`may be described by other protocols, including for example,
`the Hypertext Markup Language (“HTML”) or SUN
`MICROSYSTEMS INC.’s JAVA language. A detailed
`description of one compact protocol for monitoring interac-
`tive applications, including supported definitions, scripts,
`and commands,
`is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,689,799,
`entitled “Method and Apparatus for Routing Confidential
`Information,” which issued on Nov. 18, 1997 and is hereby
`incorporated by reference herein. The interactive applica-
`tions are themselves software products comprising execut-
`able code and data, which configures and controls the
`operation of a broadcast receiver 120, as further described
`below.
`
`There may be a plurality of broadcast servers 110, with
`each broadcast server 110 serving a particular geographic
`area, set of broadcasters, or set of subscribers.
`In one
`embodiment, each broadcast server 110 is identified by a
`unique server identification code.
`Generally,
`the broadcast server 110 determines which
`interactive applications should be broadcast on a particular
`channel at a particular time, retrieves the interactive appli-
`cations corresponding to the particular channel and time
`from the database 112, and prepares the interactive appli-
`cations for broadcast.
`
`To determine which interactive applications are broadcast
`at the various times, channels, and so forth, the broadcast
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`7
`server 110 receives a playlist 113 of programs to be broad-
`cast by the broadcaster 114. In one embodiment, this playlist
`113 is prepared in advance and identifies the programs that
`will be broadcast by the broadcaster 114 at particular times.
`In another embodiment, the broadcast server 110 receives
`the playlist 113 in real-time, identifying the program cur-
`rently being broadcast by the broadcaster 114, with the
`playlist 113 being updated as the broadcast changes. In
`either embodiment, the playlist 113 contains sufficient infor-
`mation to identify each program, its start and end times, the
`channel and network assignments, or broadcaster identifi-
`cation code. The broadcast server 110 uses this information
`to identify and retrieve a corresponding interactive applica-
`tion from the database 112 that is to accompany the program.
`The broadcast server 110 formats a retrieved interactive
`application,
`if necessary, and otherwise prepares it
`for
`insertion into a broadcast signal. Using the playlist 113
`received from the broadcaster 114, the broadcast server 110
`passes the interactive application 115 to the data insertion
`unit (“DIU”) 116 to incorporate the interactive application
`115 into the broadcast feed concurrent with the broadcast of
`the program.
`The DIU 116 receives the interactive application 115 from
`the broadcast server 114 and the broadcast signal, or feed,
`carrying the program corresponding to the interactive appli-
`cation 115. The broadcast feed may be received from the
`broadcaster 114, or, in the case where the broadcaster does
`not provide the feed, from a third party such as a network,
`cable operator, or local
`television station. The DIU 116
`converts the interactive application 115 into a format suit-
`able for insertion into the broadcaster feed and transmission
`
`therewith as broadcast data 117. The DIU 116 may receive
`feeds from multiple broadcasters and can insert a separate
`interactive application into each feed. Likewise, the DIU 116
`can simultaneously insert a separate interactive application
`into multiple channels from the same, or different, broad-
`casters 114.
`
`The DIU 116 inserts the broadcast data 117 containing the
`interactive app