GB2040129A - Programme monitoring system and method - Google Patents

Abstract

At least one frame of an item to be transmitted by a television station such as, T.V. commercial films, is provided with a signal identifying the item, for example a signal representative of a number and a device Fig. 2 monitors the signal transmitted and when the particular item identifying signal is identified such as by comparison with memorised identifications in a memory a record is made of this together with the date and time of reception. To identify a commercial film, Fig. 1, a frame of a film may be exposed to a number displayed on a VDU, the next two frames are exposed to a display identifying pattern and the next frame is exposed to the number on the VDU. The exposed film is then secured to an edited commercial film so as to identify it. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Improvements in or relating to a monitoring system and method THE PRESENT INVENTION relates to a monitoring system and method, and more particularly, although not exclusively, to a system and method for monitoring the transmission of "commercials" or advertisements by television transmitters and for recording information concerning the display of such commercials or advertisements.

According to one aspect of this invention there is provided a method of monitoring the transmission of a predetermined item by a television transmitter, said method comprising the steps of producing said item for transmission with one or more frames containing information specifically identifying the item, transmitting the item, and monitoring the transmitted signal with a monitoring device adapted to respond solely to the reception of said one or more frames to record the information identifying the item transmitted.

Preferably said monitoring device, when recording the identity of the item transmitted, also records the date and time of transmission of the item together with information identifying the monitoring device in question.

Advantageously the said frame or frames contain patterns or the like identifying the frame as a frame containing the information, and also contain pattern or the like representative of the information. The said pattern or patterns and the information may be in the form of bars or the like to be displayed on a screen. Alternatively the frame or frames may be such that the signal to be transmitted has a video signal with an information signal incorporated therein at predetermined parts thereof. The incorporated signal may effectively define a pattern, although the pattern may be on part of the frame that is not normally displayed.

Preferably the monitoring device monitors the signal generating the pattern and compares at least a sampletaken from the signal with predetermined samples or the like to ascertain whether the signal is a signal containing information or not.

Preferably the said frames comprise a predetermined pattern or signal adapted to be recognised by the monitoring device, a pattern or signal indicative of a number associated with the item displayed, and a further predetermined pattern or signal adapted to be recognised by the monitoring device.

According to another aspect of this invention there is provided a method of making a film or the like for transmission by a television transmitter, said method comprising the steps of shooting and editing a film, and comprising the steps of preparing an identifying strip by focussing a camera on a visual display unit, displaying a predetermined pattern on the visual display unit and exposing one or more frames of the film within the camera, and securing at least one of the thus exposed frames of the film within the camera to the said edited film to form a film having at least one identifying frame therein.

Preferably in preparing the identifying strip the visual display unit is caused to display a number "in clear" which is exposed on a first frame of the film in the camera, subsequently two frames of the film in the camera are exposed to said pattern, and finally a final frame is exposed to the number "in clear", the numbers "in clear" being cut off when the patterned frame or frames are attached to the said edited film.

It is to be understood that the frames displaying the number "in clear" may be separated from the patterned frames by blank frames.

Advantageously the frames attached to the edited film are attached to the beginning of the edited film although the said frames may be attached at the end of the film. Alternatively the patterns on said frames may be superimposed on frames of the films.

According to a further aspect of this invention there is provided a method of making a video recording of an item for transmission by a television transmitter said method comprising the steps of generating an electric signal to be recorded to constitute the video recording, supplying said signal to a video recorder, and including superimposing on said signal or substituting part of said signal with, an information signal at a predetermined point in at least one frame of the signal to be recorded, the superimposed or substituted signal serving to identify the item being recorded.

Preferably the superimposed or substituted signal is superimposed or substituted on a portion of one frame signal corresponding to a portion of the frame that is not normally displayed. Thus the superimposed or substituted signal may be superimposed or substituted on the sixteenth line of a frame, or any other convenient line.

The superimposed or substituted signal may be located in precisely predetermined points measured relative to the line synchronisation pulse and may thus only occupy relatively short portions of the line in question.

According to a further aspect of th is invention there is provided a monitoring device adapted to monitor the transmission of predetermined items by a television transmitter, said apparatus comprising a tuner which is tunable to the frequency of the television transmitter, and electronic means incorporating a microprocessor or the like adapted to monitor the signals received by the tuner and adapted to compare the received signals, or signals sampled from the received signals, with predetermined signals and adapted, when the received signals correspond with the predetermined signals, to record further signals transmitted at predetermined times relative to said predetermined signals, said further signals being representative of the item being transmitted.

Preferably the apparatus is also adapted to record the time and date of transmission of such signals, together with information identifying the recording apparatus.

Preferably the apparatus is provided with means for recording the signals such as a tape or floppy disc memory.

Advantageously the monitoring device may be adapted to monitor a particular line of each frame of each item transmitted by the television transmitter, the monitoring device being adapted to monitor the signals received at predetermined instants of time after the line synchronisation pulse of the selected line of each frame.

In order to minimise any problems caused as a result of failure of the main electricity supply it is envisaged that emergency electricity supply means will be provided, such as accumulators, batteries or the like which will at least maintain operation of the device adapted to provide signals representative of the date and time.

In order that the invention may be more readily understood and so that further features thereof may be appreciated the invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: FIGURE lisa flow diagram of the various steps in the production of a commercial or advertisement to be transmitted by a television transmitter; FIGURE 2 is a block diagram of a detector or receiver for use in monitoring advertisement; and FIGURE 3 is a flow diagram illustrating the operation of the detector or receiver illustrated in Figure 2.

At the present time in this country there are many independent television stations which transmit programmes for viewing on domestic television receivers, these programmes being interspersed by advertisements or commercials. Normally a number of commercials or advertisements are shown during a predetermined period of time which is commonly known as "a commercial break".

Large companies may have several different commercials or advertisements current at any one time, and these commercials or advertisements may, in many respects, be similar to each other. The company, or the advertising agency handling the work of the company, may instruct particular commercials to be displayed a particular number of times by particular independent television stations.

The charge for the displaying of the commercials depends upon the particular station displaying the commercial and the precise time at which the commercial is displayed. Of course, a separate charge is incurred each time a commercial is displayed by any station.

Whilst the individual television stations control the commercials that are displayed, it is sometimes the case that the records kept concerning the display of commercials are inadequate, and, at the present time, in order to provide an independent check on the number of commercials shown it is necessary to employ personnel to watch television screens tuned to the various television channels occupied by the independent television stations, these people noting details concerning the commercials that are displayed, and noting the time of display of each commercial. This is a time consuming method of monitoring advertisements and, where advertisements of a single company which are very similar are displayed, confusion can arise.It is to be noted that in many cases a company will prepare three of four slightly different commercials from film shot during one studio session, and thus the commercials will appear to be very similar to a viewer, but there will be slight differences between the various versions of the commercial. On many occasions it is important to record precisely which version of the.

commercial was shown, and it is difficult to obtain consistent results when the information that constitutes the recording is obtained from personnel X v ho watch an independent television channel and who seek to identify and record the commercials displayed. Thus this method is subjectto human error and fallibility.

The present invention broadly relates to a method of monitoring advertisements whereby each advertisement is coded, and an electrical arrangement or apparatus is provided which monitors the transm,ssion of a television station and which automatically records information concerning any advertisement displayed, including the specific identity of the advertisement displayed, and the time and date of the display. This recorded information can subsequently be supplied to a computer which can then be programmed to provide any desired statistics, generated from the information.

Turning now to Figure 1 of the accompanying drawings, a commercial or advertisement may be prepared by shooting a film and subsequently by editing the film to have the desired overall length. As an independent operation an identifying strip of film is prepared. This identifying strip of film is prepared by focussing a film camera on the screen of a visual display unit such as a television monitor, the visual display unit being controlled by a microprocessor or the like. Such visual display units are, of course, well known in themselves and do not warrent detailed description in this Specification. The microprocessor is adapted to control the operation of the gate of the camera and to advance the film. The arrangement is such that when operation of the microprocessor is initiated a desired number is displayed in clear on the screen of the VDU.The displayed number will be used to identify the commercial or advertisement that is being prepared and so a different selected numberwill be used for each individual advertisement. One frame of the film in the camera is exposed, and the film is advanced. Subsequently the microprocessor causes a predetermined pattern to be displayed on the VDU, and the precise nature of this pattern will be described hereinafter. However, let it be stated at this point that the pattern includes pattern elements which are representative of the number displayed on the screen of the VDU in the previous process step. Two frames of the film are exposed to this pattern, the film of course being advanced between exposure of the frames. Subsequently the number originally displayed on the screen is redisplayed, and a final frame of the film is exposed. The film is developed, and consequently the film comprises four frames, the first and last frame comprising a number "in clear" and the central two frames comprising a predetermined pattern containing coded information concerning the number. It is to be appreciated that the frames of the identifying strip carrying the numbers "in clear" may be separated from the patterned frames by blank frames, the identifying strip thus being six frames long.

When the edited film and the identifying strip have been prepared, the edited film and the identifying strip are brought together, and the number that is present on the first and last frame of the identifying strip is carefully noted together with information which clearly identifies the final edited film. Then the two central frames of the identifying strip are spliced to the edited film to be the first two frames of the edited film. The edited film, together with the two identifying frames, now has precisely the desired length, and from this copy of the film a "master" film is generated. This master film is carefully preserved, and copies ofthe master film are made, these copies of the master film being fed through appropriate tele-cine equipment when the advertisement in question is to be displayed.

It will be appreciated that whenever the advertisement is displayed the two patterned frames at tele beginning of the film will be displayed before the major portion of the advertisement is displayed.

Since films especially prepared for display by television have a speed of 25 frames per second the first two frames of the film are displayed in two twenty fifths of the second, and whilst it is possible for the human eye to discern the display of two successive frames in this particular way, it is unlikely that the human eye will discern the presence of these two frames unless the viewer has been specifically alerted to the fact that the two frames are present.

Thus the presence of the frames does not detract from the commercial.

The pattern that is provided on each of the two frames displayed at the beginning of the commercial can be most easily described in visual terms, although it will be appreciated from the description given hereinafter that an apparatus is provided which monitors the electrical signals generating the pattern, the apparatus being adapted to identify predetermined patterns and to record information contained in the patterns.

In a typical embodiment of the invention the pattern of the two frames at the beginning of any commercial film will comprise an initial area of a predetermined colour or luminescence at the beginning of a number of scanning lines, this area being termed a "landing area". The area will typically be a plain white area, or a grey area and the area will have sufficient vertical height to span over a plurality of scanning lines of the picture.

It is envisaged that the landing area will extend over four or more scanning lines of the picture so that the landing area will be detectable on the signals generating at least two lines of each field scan of the television system in question, it being appreciated that there are two field scans for each frame scan. It is envisaged that the "landing area" will be of rectangular shape, and adjacentthe landing area in the direction of scan there will be a black area, or an area of a different colour, or different luminescence.

A predetermined distance after the landing area in the direction of scan there is provided a "run in pattern" which comprises a pattern of rectangular blocks extending horizontally across the screen. The blocks are alternate blocks of black and white or any other predetermined pattern (or any other two contrasting colour intensities), the width of the blocks being preselected and having a specific predetermined pattern.

A predetermined distance after the "run-in- pattern" in the direction of scan is a further horizon tal sequence of rectangular blocks, the blocks senw ing to define characters, each character having elgínL bits, including one parity bit. Thus the numberspeci- fically identifying the commercial represented by the blocks. Subsequently, after this particular row of blocks is optionally a final sequence of blocks which constitute a "run-out pattern", these blocks again defining a predetermined pattern.

All blocks extend vertically over a plurality of scan lines of the television system in question, as explained with regard to the "landing area".

It is envisaged that a receiver or decoder will be provided to monitor the transmissions of each and every independent television station, the receivers or decoders being located in appropriate geographical positions.

Atypical receiver or decoder will comprise a tuner which is tuned to the transmission frequency of the television station which is to be monitored, and an amplifier. The output of the amplifier is fed t) a monitor consisting of an electronic arrnnyrnent comprising for example discrete logic gates, or poss ibly microprocessors which monitors or, effectively, "looks at" the signals representative of each frame received by the tuner.

The monitor is adapted initially to be triggered by the field synchronisation pulses, and, a predetermined period of time after the field synchronisation pulses, to sample the received signal, and compare the sampled signal value with a stored value, to "look" to see if the "landing area" is displayed on the screen.Thus, effectively, the monitorwill be programmed to compare the signals controlling the intensity of a predetermined scanning line (and a predetermined number of successive scanning lines) and to compare this signal with predetermined stored information, the signal being identified as being indicative of the "landing area" if the signal has the necessary predetermined characteristics, namely if the signal has such a value that is generating a white area of the necessary dimensions at the right instants of time relative to the field synchronisation pulses.Assuming that the monitor identifies a line of the frame as containing the "landing area", when the edge of the landing area is detected, that is to say when the scanning electron beam passes from the landing area into the black area adjacent the landing area, a timing clock is initiated within the electronic arrangement.

Underthe control of the timing clock the signal received by the tuner will be successively sampled.

The initial points sampled will be points that should be within the central regions of the blocks defining the "run in" pattern. The sampled signals are compared with predetermined signals stored in a memory associated with the monitor, and if the received signals correspond with the stored signals the device continues to operate on the assumption that the frame being monitored is indeed a frame identifying a commercial. If, however, the received signals do not correspond with the signals stored in the memory of the monitor, the apparatus will ignore the rest of the information to be received, on the assumption that the detection of the "landing area" was in error, or was due to the fact that, by coincidence, a portion of the picture being transmitted had a white area substantially corresponding with the area of the "landing area".Thus the monitor will abort, and will be triggered again by the next frame synchronisation pulses.

If the monitor does not abort again underthe control of the timing clock, the monitor will sample the signal at further predetermined periods of time, these periods of time corresponding with the moments of display of central regions of the blocks defining the characters of eight bits. These signals are stored temporarily.Finally, again underthe control of the clock, further signals received by the tuner are monitored, these signals corresponding to the central regions of the blocks defining the "run out pattern", and the detected signals are compared with predetermined signals stored within the memory associated with the monitor If the received signals do not correspond with the stored signals the device will abort, but if these signals correspond with the predetermined stored signals the monitor "decides" that information concerning the identity of the commercial has been received, and proceeds to record permanently information stored in the memory representative of the number detected by the device.

It is envisaged that the tuner will be associated with a further device which continually provides output signals representative of the date and time, and also identifying the monitoring device in question and when the monitor determines that information concerning the identity of a commercial has been received, the number identifying the commercial and the date and time of receipt of that commercial will be permanently recorded together with the identity of the monitoring device, for example on a cassette tape and/or by other means. The information can be recorded in any conventional way, for example, on a floppy disc, or the information may be transferred immediately to the memory of a central computer.

When the information concerning the identity of a received advertisement and the date and time of the transmission of the advertisement have been recorded, in any event the information will eventually be transferred to a central computer, thus enabling appropriate print-outs to be prepared showing the precise number of times any particular commercial has been shown, including the date and time of transmission of the commercial and the particular television station displaying the commercial, and, of course, many other print-outs may be prepared by handling the data stored in the computer in appropriate ways.

It is to be appreciated that whilst reference has been madeto a system in which frames bearing a pattern are added to a form at the beginning of the form it is possible for the frames added to the form to be split and located at two separate locations so that each frame is only visible from one twenty fifth of a second, thus minimising the chance that the frames bearing the pattern will be observed. Alterna timely the pattern may be superimposed on one or more selected frames by means of an apparatus commonly used for tilting. Thus these frames will carry a large amount of picture information, but will also carry the identifying pattern.

It is envisaged that a system as described abort will enable advertisers to have an independent ac;li;t conducted as to the number of times any particular advertisement has been displayed in order to assess whether the charges rendered to them by the television stations are correct. Also it is envisaged that the system as described above may be of assistance in various other matters, since in some cases actors appearing in commercials are paid in accordance; with the number of times that the commercial is displayed, and thus the computer could be additionally programmed to calculate the additional payment to be made to any particular actor having regard to the number of commercials that have been displayed in which that particular actor appeared.

Whilstthe invention has been already described above mention should be made of certain points of interest. When a commercial film is displayed on a tele-cine apparatus, the television camera may not be perfectly aligned with the means projecting or displaying the film, and account must be taken of this fact in the microprocessor arrangement associated with the tuner and amplifier. The television camera may be pointed high or may be pointed low, and it is partly for this reason that each of the blocks or areas defining the landing area and defining the run-in pattern, the number in question, and the runout pattern extend vertically over a plurality of scanning lines of the television apparatus.Thus the electronic-arrangement effectively, "looks" for the "landing area" in any one of a plurality of scanning lines, commencing to "look" for the landing area before and ceasing to "look" for the landing area after, it expects to find a landing area. Thus there is a certain amount of tolerance or flexibility. Of course, once the "landing area" has been successfully identified, the transition between the landing area and the adjacent black area will trigger the timing clock and, of course, all the signals containing the other items of information to be ascertained are at predetermined times after this transition.

Similarly in case the camera associated with the tele-cine unit is displaced either to the left or to the right it is to be noted that the timing clock is initiated by the transition from the landing area to the adjacent black area, and again the signals containing the information to be monitored are located predetermined periods of time after this transition regardless ofthe precise orientation ofthe camera.

A further difficulty that could possibly be encountered is the question of "skew" e.g. if the television camera is twisted so that the vertical axis of the camera is at an angle to the vertical axis of the film.

In order to prevent this causing any specific problems the blocks defining the landing area, the run-in pattern, the number and the run-out pattern all have sufficient height that even if the camera is skewed in this way at least one scan line will pass through all the blocks of the row of blocks. Also it is to be noted that each pulse defining a block of the run-in pattern number and run-out pattern have a duration of 650 nanoseconds, but the monitor is adapted to "look at" or sample a central portion, having a duration of less than 50% of the pulse, of each pulse representative of a block. Thus, even if there is a certain amount of skew the central portion of the pulse that is sampled will be well within the 650 nanosecond pulse that is representative of each particular block.

It is to be appreciated that since, in normal operation of the device, a plurality of scan lines will pass through the landing area and the transition between the landing area and the adjacent black area, and the blocks representative of the run-in pattern, the number in question and the run-out pattern, the information will be assessed a large number of times. Means may be provided for recording the information each time it is assessed, and subsequently comparing the recorded items of information to ensure that the information has been correctly recorded.Thus, if the information is recorded four or five times, the separately recorded items of information can be compared with each other and if, for the sake of example, four of the items correspond precisely with each other and one item is different the monitor device may be programmed to discard the one item that is different on the assumption that, due to noise or some other fault, the signal was incorrectly recorded. Also, since the information is displayed on two frames of film it is to be detected on four field scans, again providing a certain degree of "redundancy".Thus, in orderforthe monitor device associated with the tuner amplifier to record a number it is necessary for the device to detect the landing area on at least one line of scan, and preferably on a relatively large number of lines of scan, to detect the run-in pattern in the correct position, to detect a number in the correct position, and to detect a run-out pattern in the correct position. If a comparator is provided to provide a comparison between received signals it may be possible to provide means to indicate when only one signal is received, thus making it impossible to conduct a comparison, the detected signal being recorded but being "queried" as being potentially unreliable.

As a final check, when the number of a monitored commercial is supplied to the central computer the number will be compared with numbers stored in a memory bank, these numbers being indicative of commercials that are available for display and thus not only must the landing area run-in pattern and the run-out pattern be detected, but also the apparatus must detect a number that is available.

tNhilstthe invention has been described with specific reference to monitoring advertisements, the method may also be utilised for monitoring other ns displayed on a television, such as for example feature films since the film companies expect a payment for each time that a particular film is displayed on television.

An emergency electricity supply may be associated with the monitoring device, at least to maintain operation of the date and time signal generating mF ans.

It is to be understood that a single embodiment of the invention has been described and many modifi cations may be made within the invention. For example, when preparing the identifying strip of film it may be preferred to leave blank frames of film between the numbers "in clear" and the coded pattern representative of the numbers. Further blank frames may be provided at each end of the strip of film, these blank frames serving to facilitate the splic ing process.

Furthermore blank frames may be left between the patterned frames.

Whilst the invention has been described above with respect to an embodiment in which the infor mation identifying the commercial or other transmitted item is first prepared in a visual form it is to he appreciated that in a modified process in accordance with the present invention a video recording of an item to be transmitted may be made in the form of a master tape, a signal representative of the item to be transmitted being fed to the video recorder through an appropriate switch. Information identifying the particular item to be transmitted may be superim posed on or substituted for a part of one or more frames of the signal being fed to the videu rdcordtrr and thus, for example, a signal may be superimposed upon or may totally replace the sixteenth line of one frame of the item.Thus, when the sixteenth line of the selected frame commences the switch is operated so that an appropriate information carrying signal is superimposed on or substituted for the line of the frame of the item being recorded. The information present on this line may comprise relatively small items of information located at precisely predetermined points relative to the line synchronisation pulse. Since the information can be electronically timed relative to the line synchronisation pulse the items of information may be very accurately located on the line as actually subsequently transmitted since the problems associated with the skew or misalignment of a camera in atelecine equipment as outlined above will not be encountered.Thus the monitor may be adapted only to "look at" the precise points on the line where the information signal is expected to be found.

It will be appreciated by a man skilled in the art that line 16 of a television frame is not normally displayed since this does not normally form part of the displayed picture. Thus information present in the sixteenth line of a frame will not in any way be visibly noticeable by a person subsequently viewing the item when displayed on a television screen.

It will thus be appreciated that the master video tape, or any copies thereof will, whenever replayed, generate the frame bearing the appropriate information in the sixteenth line.

The monitoring device for use with an item manufactured in this way will correspond generally to the monitoring device described above, save that the monitoring device will sample the sianal of sixteenth line of each frame of an item received by the tuner of the monitoring device, and the monitoring device will only sample the signal in the sixteenth line of each frame at predetermined instants of time after the line synchronisation pulseforthi sixteenth line of each frame.Again the line ma-, in luas; sig. ,alc which correspond to a landing pattern, a number identifying the item to be transmitted and run-off pattern, and, as in the above described embodiment the run-in pattern the number and the run-out pattern will have to be detected before a positive recording of the number detected is made by the monitoring device.

It is envisaged that a plurality of machines may be utilised for manufacturing such video recordings of items to be displayed, and to minimise confusion it is envisaged that each such machine will be adapted to impart a number identifying items to be transmitted, each number imparted by each respective machine commencing with a separate series of digits which can be considered to be particular to the machine in question, and terminating in a series of digits identifying the particular item to be transmitted. Each machine will contain a non-erasable register carrying the number to be imparted by the machine and whenever a specific number has been recorded on an item the register will advance so that the same number cannot be re-utilised. Thus, even though a large number of machines may be in operation it will be impossible for any two items to be transmitted to be provided with precisely the same identification number.

It is to be understood that where signals are electronically superimposed upon the signal representative of a single line of a single frame, the signals will only be superimposed in certain regions of that line, and thus the line will still display some picture information. Consequently there is a minimum of disruption to the normal picture and it is envisaged that any such disruption will not be detectable by the human eye.

Claims (21)

1. A method of monitoring the transmission of a predetermined item by a television transmitter, said method comprising the steps of producing said item fortransmission with one or more frames containing information specifically identifying the item, transmitting the item, and monitoring the transmitted signal with a monitoring device adapted to respond solely to the reception of said one or more frames to record the information identifying the item transmitted.

2. A method according to claim 1 wherein said monitoring device, when recording the identity of the item transmitted, also records the date and time of transmission of the item together with information identifying the monitoring device in question.

3. A method according to claim 1 or 2 wherein the said frame or frames contain patterns or the like identifying the frame as a frame containing the information, and also contain patterns or the like representative of the information.

4. A method according to claim 3 wherein the said pattern or patterns and the information is in the form of bars or the like to be displayed on a screen.

5. A method according to claim 1 or 2 wherein the frame or frames may be such that the signal to be transmitted has a video signal with an information signal superimposed thereon at predetermined points thereof.

6. A method according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the said one or more frames comprise a predetermined pattern or signal adapted to be recognised by the monitoring device, a pattern or signal indicative of a number associated with the item displayed, and a further predetermined pattern or signal adapted to be recognised by the monitoring device.

7. A method of making a film orthe like for transmission by a television transmitter, said method comprising the steps of shooting and editing a film, and comprising the steps of preparing an identifying strip by focussing a camera on a visual display unit, displaying a predetermined pattern on the visual display unit and exposing one or more frames of the film within the camera, and securing at least one of the thus exposed frames of the film within the camera to the said edited film to form a film having at least one identifying frame therein.

8. A method according to claim 7 wherein in preparing the identifying strip the visual display unit is caused to display a number "in clear" which is exposed on a first frame of the film in the camera, subsequently two frames of the film in the camera are exposed to said pattern, and finally a final frame is exposed to the number "in clear", the numbers "in clear" being cut off when the patterned frame or frames are attached to the said edited film.

9. A method according to claim 7 or 8 wherein the frames attached to the edited film are attached to the beginning of the edited film.

10. A method of making a video recording of an item for transmission by a television transmitter said method comprising the steps of generating an electric signal to be recorded to constitute the video recording, supplying said signal to a video recorder, and including superimposing on said signal or substituting part of said signal with, an information signal at a predetermined point in at least one frame of the signal to be recorded, the superimposed or substituted signal serving to identify the item being recorded.

11. A method according to claim 10 wherein the superimposed or substituted signal is superimposed or substituted on a portion of one frame signal corresponding to a portion of the frame that is not nor mally displayed.

12. A method according to claim 10or11 wherein the superimposed or substituted signal is located in precisely predetermined points measured relative to the line synchronisation pulse.

13. A monitoring device adapted to monitor the transmission of predetermined items by a television transmitter, said apparatus comprising a tuner which is tunable to the frequency of the television transmitter, and electronic means incorporating a microprocessor or the like adapted to monitor the signals received by the tuner and adapted to compare the received signals, or signals sampled from the received signals, with predetermined signals and adapted, when the received signals correspond with the predetermined signals, to record further signals transmitted at predetermined times relative to said predetermined signals, said further signals being representative of the item being transmitted.

14. A device according to claim 13 adapted to record the time and date of transmission of such signals, together with information identifying the recording apparatus.

15. A device according to claim 13 or 14, provided with means for recording the signals such as a tape or floppy disc memory.

16. A device according to any one of claims 13 to 15 adapted to monitor a particular line of each frame of each item transmitted by the television transmitter, the monitoring device being adapted to monitor the signals received at predetermined instants of time after the line synchronisation pulse of the selected line of each frame.

17. A method of monitoring or transmission, substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

18. A method of making a film for transmission by a television transmitter substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

19. A method of making a video recording for transmission by a television transmitter substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

20. A monitoring device substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

21. Any novel feature or combination of features disclosed herein.