KR20010097950A - Examination method of audience rating by disposition of viewer and system for the same - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a method of surveying the ratings of television broadcasts. In particular, it is possible to investigate the viewer ratings using the Internet. In addition, since the viewer's age and gender can be distinguished, the viewer's taste and target can be set.

Description

Rating method of audience rating by disposition of viewer and system for the same}

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention [0001] The present invention relates to a viewer rating research method of television broadcasting, and more particularly, to a viewer rating research method and a system capable of real-time viewer rating research using the Internet and grasping a viewer's disposition using an image transmission system.

In general, with the development of communication technology, diversification and privatization of television broadcasting are spreading, and the level of viewers is also improving. In addition, it is no exaggeration to say that in order to satisfy the various needs of viewers, broadcast programs in many broadcasters or in the same broadcaster put aside a battle for audience ratings.

This is for the purpose of increasing the advertising revenue which guarantees the profitability of a broadcaster or a corresponding broadcast program.

Accordingly, broadcasters set up a panel for surveying some of the general viewers as shown in FIG. 1 and attach a small device called a people meter to the TV receiver of the household selected as the panel. After that, members of the household selected as the panel watch TV broadcasts as usual.

However, the people meter is assigned a unique number for the existing configuration, each time the user turns on or off the TV by using a remote control suitable for the people meter to record the start and end of viewing by pressing the button corresponding to them .

At this time, the data recorded in the people meter is transmitted to the broadcasting station viewer rating research unit through a trunk line and a modem by using the midnight time zone, which is to examine the viewer ratings by integrating the data of each panel in the broadcasting station viewer rating research unit again. .

The above-described conventional audience rating research method for the airborne television broadcasting causes inconveniences caused by the operation of the people meters of the configurations, and it is also possible to know the viewer ratings of viewers for each program at the regular broadcast time in the late-night time zone when the regular broadcast time ends. There is a problem in that real-time processing is difficult because data is transmitted.

In addition, the above-mentioned audience rating survey method for over-the-air television broadcasting has a problem that even if it is unavoidable because it does not actually perform upward communication, user inconvenience and actual audience rating survey may not be performed. .

In addition, referring to the audience rating survey method in the cable broadcasting, unlike the audience rating survey method for the above-mentioned airwave television broadcasting, as shown in FIG. 2A, a cable television broadcasting station 50 that provides various broadcast signals, and N subscriber facilities 60 for receiving and displaying broadcast signals and a communication network 70 for interconnecting the cable television broadcast station 50 and the N subscriber facilities 60.

The cable television broadcasting station 50 controls a central processing unit (CPU) 51 for controlling the entire broadcasting system, and controls the bidirectional data transmission between the central processing unit 51 and the N subscriber facilities 60. Communication control unit (CCU) 52 is provided.

The N subscriber facilities 60 are N cable television converters CVT 1 to CVT N which perform a reception adapter function for an existing television receiver (not shown).

Each cable television converter CVT 1 to CVT N includes a microcomputer for controlling the entire system, a read only memory (ROM) and a random access memory (RAM) for storing various data under the control of the microcomputer. ).

In addition, the communication network 70 is the first and second transmission paths W1, for transmitting data from the communication control device 52 of the cable television broadcasting station 50 to the N cable television converters CVT 1 to CVT N. W2) and a third transmission path W3 for transmitting data from the N cable television converters CVT 1 to CVT N to the communication control device 52 side.

On the other hand, using the cable television system configured as described above it was possible to investigate the audience rating (used mainly as a basis for determining the advertising costs, the effectiveness of the program, etc.) of a particular broadcast.

The audience rating research method of the cable television system according to the prior art is by high-level data link control procedure (HDLC) communication between the cable television station 50 and the N subscribers 60 as follows.

In a first step, the communication control device 52 of the cable television broadcasting station 50 receives a first command frame for storing channel information currently watched under the control of the central processing unit 51 through the first transmission path W1. Each of the N cable television converters CVT 1 to CVTN is transmitted.

The first command frame is a code (COMMAND 1) indicating a communication method between the cable television station 50 and the N subscriber equipments 60, as shown in FIG. 2B, and the N subscriber equipments 60, that is, Each cable television converter (CVT 1 to CVT N) includes a code indicating the type of action to be performed (EVENT 1-to store information on the channel currently being viewed in RAM).

In the second step after the first step, the microcomputers of the N cable television converters CVT 1 to CVT N respectively receive the first command frame transmitted from the cable television broadcasting station 50 to transfer the current channel information to the RAM. Save it.

In the third step, when the communication time is low after the second step, the communication control device 52 of the cable television broadcasting station 50 transmits the channel information currently stored in the RAM under the control of the central processing unit 51. The second command frame is transmitted to the N cable television converters CVT1 to CVT N through the second transmission line W2, respectively.

The second command frame is a code (COMMAND 2) indicating a communication method between the cable television station 50 and the N subscriber equipments 60, as shown in FIG. 2C, and the N subscriber equipments 60, that is, Each cable television converter CVT 1 to CVT N includes a code indicating the type of action to be performed (read and transmit channel information stored in the EVENT 2-RAM).

In the fourth step after the third step, the microcomputers of the N cable television converters CVT 1 to CVT N each receive a second command frame transmitted from the cable television station 50 to receive channel information stored in the RAM. After reading, the channel information is loaded in a response frame and transmitted to the communication control device 52 of the cable television broadcasting station 50 through the third transmission path W3.

In this case, the N cable television converters CVT 1 to CVT N may transmit response frames only when the communication control device 52 of the cable television broadcasting station 50 transmits a progress signal according to a polling method.

In addition, the response frame is a code (COMMAND 3) indicating the communication scheme between the cable television broadcasting station 50 and the N subscriber equipments 60, as shown in Figure 2d, and the N subscriber equipments 60, that is, each Contains code indicating the type of action performed by the cable television converters CVT 1 to CVT N (EVENT 2-reads and transmits channel information stored in RAM), and includes one channel information stored in RAM. .

Then, in a fifth step, the central processing unit 51 of the cable television broadcasting station 50 receives each response frame transmitted from the N cable television converters CVT 1 to CVTN through the communication control device 52. Analyze and then examine the viewership rating of a particular broadcast.

On the other hand, the first and second command frames are transmitted by one HDLC communication, and each takes a short time of 1 second or less, but the transmission of the response frame takes a long time because it is polled.

For example, if the number of subscriber facilities 60 connected to the cable television broadcasting station 50 is 30,000, and the response frame transmission time of one subscriber equipment is 1 second, 30,000 times 1 second = 30,000 seconds, that is, 8 hours or more. It takes a lot of time.

That is, the audience rating investigation method of the cable television system according to the prior art is performed at one time by one interactive communication (first and second command frames and response frame transmission and reception) performed between the cable television station and the N subscriber equipments. Since only the corresponding channel information is exchanged, the time required to investigate the viewer rating of one broadcast is too long, and thus the viewer rating survey of a plurality of continuous or discontinuous broadcasts is impossible.

In addition, conventionally, channel information at the time of audience rating research is stored in the RAM of each cable television converter, and since the RAM stores all the stored contents when the power is turned off, the channel information for the audience rating research is easily lost. There was a problem that the accuracy of the survey was poor.

An object of the present invention for solving the above problems is to provide a method and system for investigating the viewer rating according to the viewer's inclination to enable the real-time viewership survey using the Internet and to grasp the viewer's disposition using the image transmission system.

1 is a conceptual diagram for explaining a viewer rating research method in the conventional airwave method,

2A is a block diagram showing a simplified configuration of a cable television system according to the prior art;

2b is a view showing a first command frame according to the prior art;

2c is a view showing a second command frame according to the prior art;

Figure 2d is a view showing a response frame according to the prior art,

3 is an exemplary configuration diagram of an audience rating research system according to viewer propensity according to the present invention;

4 is an exemplary configuration diagram of an apparatus for distinguishing gender of young and old viewers through image matching in a video image;

5A is an exemplary view of operation on the panel side;

5B is an exemplary operation diagram at a broadcasting station audience survey station.

A feature of the present invention for achieving the above object is, in the audience rating survey method of over-the-air broadcasting, a first process of making a database of representative images of men and women by age group, and a second screen for selecting a plurality of viewers by panel and connecting to the Internet And a third process of recognizing a channel selected by the airborne broadcast receiver of the panel connected through the second process, and acquiring a front surface of the airborne broadcast receiver as a still image image when the channel is recognized through the third process. The fourth process, the still image image acquired through the fourth process, and the channel channel data recognized through the third process are transmitted through the Internet connected through the second process. The fifth process received by the specific viewership research institute performing the second process, and the data received from the specific viewership research institute Investigating the viewer ratings for the broadcast based on the information, and comparing the still images received based on the database data through the first process to investigate the viewer tendency corresponding to the broadcast to generate statistics It involves six steps.

Another feature of the present invention for achieving the above object is a channel recognition means for recognizing a broadcast channel received through a TV receiver provided in the household of the viewer selected by the panel in a viewer rating survey system of airwave broadcasting; And a camera for acquiring the state of the viewer watching from the front of the TV receiver as a video image by recognizing the channel by the channel recognition means, and having a unique ID and the video image of the viewer acquired from the camera. Data collection and transmission means for receiving the data of the received broadcast channel recognized by the channel recognition means and transmits it to the Internet in a package together with its own unique ID, and a plurality of panels connected to the Internet. Specific broadcasting by receiving the transmission signal of the data collection transmission means It includes a viewer rating survey means for performing a DB task for the viewer ratings and viewer preferences.

As an additional feature of the present invention for achieving the above object, the viewer rating means includes a face image extraction unit that receives a still image image and extracts only the image of the viewer's face from the image, and the image for the average age group Comparison of extracting the most approximate one by comparing the representative face image database of the sexes and the face image stored in the face image extraction unit with the face image stored in the representative face image database And a viewer propensity statistics unit that represents the gender and age group of the viewer as statistical values based on the reference data of the approximated values extracted by the comparator.

The above objects and various advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the preferred embodiments of the invention described below with reference to the accompanying drawings by those skilled in the art.

Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 3 is an exemplary view illustrating a configuration of an audience rating research system according to a viewer's inclination according to the present invention, which is received through a TV receiver 100 provided in a household of a viewer selected as a panel, and received through the TV receiver 100. A channel 300 for recognizing a broadcast channel, and a camera 300 for acquiring a picture of a viewer watching from the front of the TV set 100 by recognizing a channel in the channel recognizer 200 as an image image. And a unique ID provided with its own ID, which receives a video image of the viewer acquired by the camera 300 and data of a received broadcast channel recognized by the channel recognizer 200. Of the data collection transmission unit 400 which is bundled in a package of the data transmission unit 400 and is provided by a plurality of panels connected to the Internet. It is composed of a broadcasting station viewer rating research station 500 that receives a transmission signal and performs a DB operation for a specific broadcasting rating and viewer tendency.

The viewer rating irradiated by the broadcasting station viewer rating research station 500 is stored in a database indicated by reference numeral 600.

In the viewer rating research system according to the present invention configured as described above, the configuration of a part for investigating statistics on viewer tendency for a specific broadcast program among the broadcasting station rating survey stations 500 is shown in FIG. As shown.

4 is an exemplary view illustrating a configuration of a statistical device for distinguishing gender between young and old viewers through image matching in a video image. The face image extracting unit 510 extracts only an image of a viewer's face from a corresponding image by receiving a still image. And a representative face image DB 520 of basically storing an image of a man and a woman by an average age group and a face image of a viewer extracted from the face image extractor 510. The comparison unit 530 extracts the most approximate one from the face image stored in the image 520, and the gender and age range of the viewer are represented as statistical values based on the reference data of the approximation value extracted from the comparison unit 530. Viewer tendency statistics unit 540 is made.

An operation of an audience rating research system according to a viewer's preference according to the present invention configured as described above will be described with reference to FIGS. 5A and 5B.

FIG. 5A is an exemplary view of the operation on the panel side, and FIG. 5B is an exemplary view of the operation at the broadcasting station audience survey station 500.

First, referring to the accompanying operation of the panel with reference to FIG. 5A, when the power-on operation of the TV receiver 100 is performed in step S101, the TV receiver 100 records the history of a reception broadcast channel recorded therein in step S102. When the viewer turns off the power, it tunes in and tunes to the broadcast channel that the viewer was watching and performs normal operation accordingly. At this time, the channel recognizer 200 recognizes the channel of the currently tuned broadcast program.

Subsequently, in step S103, the channel recognizer 200 recognizes the channel through the process of step S102, so that the camera 300 acquires the image of the viewer watching from the front of the TV receiver 100 as a video image, It is formed into an image.

If it is determined in step S104 that the channel switching is performed by the viewer and no channel switching occurs, the data collection transmitter 400 determines the video image of the viewer acquired by the camera 300 and the channel recognizer through step S107. Receives the data of the received broadcast channel recognized at 200 receives the unique ID that is provided with the bundle in one package and transmits to the Internet.

If it is determined in step S104 that the channel is switched by the viewer, and if channel switching occurs, the flow proceeds to step S105, where the channel recognizer 200 recognizes the channel of the currently tuned broadcast program, thereby stepping. In step S106, the channel recognizer 200 recognizes the channel through the process of step S105, and the camera 300 acquires the image of the viewer watching from the front of the TV receiver 100 as a video image and forms the video image. Done.

After that, the process of step S107 described above is performed.

Therefore, the panel side transmits the channel of the broadcast program currently being tuned and watched by the viewer and the viewer watching the channel every time the channel is switched and at regular intervals.

In response to the operations of the above-described panels, the broadcasting station rating research station 500 operates as shown in FIG. 5B, and it is determined whether there is a signal received through the Internet connected in step S201.

When it is determined that the signal received through the process of step S201 exists, the video image signal is detected from the input signal and only the face image is extracted from the corresponding signal. At this time, a number of techniques for the process of extracting only the image of the face have been proposed at home and abroad. Among them, the papers suggested in Korea include 『Hwang Seon-gyu, Lee Jae-ho, Kim Hyung-jun, Kim Hoe-yul”. ", Transactions of the Korea Information Processing Society, Vol. 26, No. 2, pp. 368-370, 1999. "

Subsequently, after the face image is extracted through the process in step S202, in step S203, the step S202 of the representative face image DB 520, which stores images of men and women by average age, is basically stored. The most approximate one is extracted by comparing the viewer's face image extracted through the process.

Based on the reference data of the approximated value extracted in step S203, in step S204, the sex and age group of the viewer are accumulated as statistical values, and the flow proceeds to step S205.

In step S205, a database is generated based on data of channels and viewing time included in the data received in step S201. In step S206, viewer propensity accumulated through the step S205 is determined. In step S205, the database-based material is mixed to database the viewer rating of the viewing channel.

In step S207, a database of viewer ratings and viewer preferences for each particular broadcast is formed.

While the invention has been shown and described in connection with specific embodiments thereof, it will be appreciated that various modifications and changes can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as indicated by the claims. Anyone who owns it can easily find out.

Providing a viewer rating research method and system according to the viewer's inclination according to the present invention operating as described above can examine the viewer rating in real time, and furthermore, it is possible to distinguish the viewer's age and gender to target the taste and target of the viewer This has the effect of being set.

Claims (3)

In audience rating investigation method of over-the-air broadcasting, A first process of databaseting representative images of men and women by age group; A second process of selecting a plurality of viewers by a panel and connecting them to the Internet; A third step of recognizing a channel selected by the over-the-air broadcasting receiver of the panel connected through the second step; A fourth process of acquiring a front surface of the airborne broadcast receiver as a still image image when the channel is recognized through the third process; The still image image acquired through the fourth process and the channel channel data recognized through the third process are transmitted through the Internet connected through the second process, and the first and second processes are performed. A fifth process received by a specific viewership research institution; And Investigate the viewer rating for the broadcast based on the channel information among the data received from the specific viewer rating research institute, and compare the still image image received based on the data that is databased through the first process to correspond to the broadcast And a sixth step of generating statistical values by examining viewer preferences. In audience rating investigation system of over-the-air broadcasting, Channel recognition means for recognizing a broadcast channel received through a TV receiver provided in a viewer's furniture selected by the panel; A camera for acquiring a video image of a viewer watching from the front of the TV receiver by recognizing a channel by the channel recognition means; It has a unique ID and receives the video image of the viewer acquired from the camera and the data of the received broadcast channel recognized by the channel recognition means, and transmits it to the Internet in a package together with the unique ID provided by the camera. Data collection transmission means; And And a viewer rating research means for receiving a transmission signal of the data collection transmission means provided by a plurality of panels connected to the Internet and performing a DB operation on a viewer rating and viewer preference for each broadcast. Viewership survey system according to. The method of claim 2, The viewer rating means includes a face image extraction unit for receiving a still image image and extracts only the image of the viewer's face from the image; A representative face image database for men and women of all ages, which stores images of men and women by average age group; A comparator for extracting the most approximate one by comparing the face image of the viewer extracted by the face image extractor with the face image stored in the representative face image database; And And a viewer propensity statistic unit for representing the gender and age group of the viewer as statistical values based on the reference data of the approximated values extracted by the comparator.