FR2780225A1 - System for acquisition and transmission of information about audience preferences of TV channels - Google Patents

Abstract

The system uses a decoder (4) for decoding and converting video/audio/data broadcast signals and transmitting them to a number of multimedia (5,8) units in response to a control signal from a control unit (7). There is a return channel (20) for transmitting information about the broadcast signals selected by this control unit.The procedure includes the steps of configuring the decoding member (4) along a program to be measured, and treating, following the measured program, the information extracted from the selected broadcast signal, selected by the control unit, in a measuring unit (140,142,144,146), and transmitting this information extracted, back via. the return channel

Description

1 2780225

  The invention relates to the broadcasting and reception of multimedia applications or audiovisual broadcasts broadcast by a transmitter and more particularly a device and a method for acquiring and transmitting information on the audience of audiovisual broadcasts and multimedia applications. Audience measurement devices currently exist. They are connected alongside conventional television sets to collect data concerning, for example, the consumption of audiovisual programs o from a representative sample of the population. The functionalities of these systems relate in particular to analog broadcasts including the modes of transmission and reception of broadcasts as well as

  capacities are different from those of digital televisions.

  A European patent application EP A1-333-570 describes a method and a system for acquiring and transmitting information on the audience of television broadcasts in an analog television context. This anticipation essentially aims at transmitting information over the telephone network between hearing detection devices and centralization units. More particularly, the centralization units are connected to the switched telephone network via a digital data transport network having access points on the switched telephone network, in particular the Transpac network, so as to transmit in real time information. Although the transmission uses the information in its digital forms, the signals of the programs viewed are analog and contain little or no information describing the flow transmitted. This therefore results in a loss of "information" which is prejudicial to the local pre-processing of the

  consumption of multimedia applications or audiovisual broadcasts.

  The digital television environment on which the present invention is based is described in detail in the specifications of the DVB (digital video broadcasting) standard. One can refer for example to the DVB specifications established by ETSI (European Telecommunications

2 2780225

  Standards Institute) published in September 1997 under the reference EN 300 468 - vl.3.1 or under the reference REN / JTC-OODVB-43. At present, there is no specific process or device for measuring audience for multimedia applications or television broadcasts provided in a digital environment. In the analog environment, each measuring device is associated with a traditional television set and usually includes means for detecting that the television set is switched on as well as that it has been stopped. Means for detecting the selected channel and an internal clock are also provided so as to correlate the selected channel with the time and to determine the program chosen by the viewer. Thus the determination of the chosen program is not done directly but through a correlation between the time stamp of the command made by the user and the knowledge

  of the broadcaster's program schedule, at a server level.

  This therefore reflects the state of the numerous actions to be performed on the external audience measurement box and not on the television itself; which can lead to inaccuracies in the measurements or even errors. In addition, as it is currently used, the external audience measurement unit does not make it possible to obtain in real time all the information (time, event, theme, summary, ...) on current event

because of this correlation.

  Concerning the consumption of multimedia applications (for example, consultation of an electronic catalog) in digital television, an application may refer to associated applications which in particular come from other suppliers of multimedia applications. And this is transparent for external boxes, since at the interface level it can be the same service of the transponder. To trace this path with certainty and give the true value of what is consumed,

  the measurement must be made at the very heart of the receiver.

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  The measurements which are carried out in households fitted with current devices are either sent directly to polling organizations and more particularly to audience measurement organizations, or temporarily saved in a memory of these devices for later sending. These organizations have databases which allow the measurements sent to be saved and processed according to the analyzes required. The results which result from it represent a sampling of the population but do not make it possible to give a precise evaluation of reality. The extrapolation of these measurements is more or less faithful so that it is desirable to generalize this measurement of audience on a larger scale and thus to have a more faithful reflection of

reality.

  In addition, the generalization of audience measurement is not without its difficulties. On the one hand, we want to increase the number of television sets that have these measuring devices, and on the other hand we want to increase the number of data transmitted to these audience measurement organizations and vary this number of data by

according to the needs of the survey.

  In addition, the measuring devices are also more or less static. Indeed, a change in the size of the population surveyed is a heavy operation since it is necessary after agreement of the user, install

with him the necessary equipment.

  However, the measuring device according to the present invention is an integral part of the audiovisual broadcast receiver or multimedia applications and requires only the consent of the user to be surveyed and other legal or administrative operations, but without having to

intervene with the user.

  In the context of analog television, audience measurement for television broadcasts today mainly concerns the consumption of audiovisual broadcasts by spying on user interaction. As it was previously written, from the remote control codes transmitted and knowing the time as well as the program schedule broadcast, it is possible to determine the program chosen as well as other data relating to this program. The information collected by the measuring device is therefore poor and of an average level of reliability. In addition, the sampling of the population is difficult to modify, since

  a specific device must be installed in the homes concerned.

  The present invention is mainly located in the context of digital television or the Internet. It can also be used in an analog context using the T.V. lines not displayed on the screen (called VBI "Vertical Blank Interval") but used to transmit

  real-time data, for example of the teletext type to describe the contents.

  In a digital TV context, the receiver receives not only audiovisual content, but also multimedia applications, and above all information in a signaling channel describing precisely the content. For example, DVB-SI or proprietary data, can be used to send in real time, information on the name of the service, of the event, the summary, the theme, the time, the date, and many more. other information. To perform an audience measurement for advertisers, broadcasters but also for the user

  final, this information can be pre-processed locally.

  The invention therefore consists in embedding in the receiver, an audience measurement device, making it possible to know very precisely, the time stamping of the actions of the user as well as the events watched and the various related information. This measurement device is continuously powered by user interactions and data

  from the description flow, as well as all operations

  performed by the software modules that ensure the change

  broadcast or multimedia application.

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  This allows, a preprocessing which will reduce the powers and the computing times at the level of the server center and which will also be able to reduce the quantity of information transmitted to the server by the return channel, thanks to a pre-filtering. Thus, the receiver will communicate with the server only if a predetermined criterion is satisfied, for example if a given broadcast, on a given channel, at a given time has been watched. It is sufficient for this that the transmission and transmission signals of television programs or multimedia applications integrate information required 1o for the extraction of this information by these measuring devices to be done directly without conversion. This is particularly the case when we place ourselves in a digital environment containing signaling data such as the "information service" of DVB. This is also the case for the Internet, where information about the service accessed is

  available locally and in real time.

  Furthermore, in the digital context, it is possible for example during the consumption of multimedia applications (weather, multisport, nvod, multi-channel application, etc.) to have a main application calling other sub-applications which cannot be known if you only spy on the remote control codes. Indeed, it is the main application that will perform the "Zapping" on the sub-application which can be another multimedia application in itself. It is therefore necessary that the audience measurement device is "connected" to the software module which actually performs the "zapping" of the machine. There are many advantages to this implementation. One of the advantages is notably to limit the additional cost of adding electronic circuits to this measuring device by integrating it into the

decoder box.

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  An additional advantage also lies in the possibility available to polling organizations or audience measurement organizations to change and vary the amount of information required for their needs. In this way, the recipients of this information will be all the more satisfied as the information will be provided in a more

precise and more targeted.

  Another advantage results from the fact that the information available is that carried by the digital signals of the "services" of the

0o transponder.

  The last and not the least of the advantages lies in the fact that this measuring device can also be used by the user for his own needs, in particular for consumption measurements of certain types.

audiovisual broadcasts etc ...

  In one embodiment of the present invention, the method of acquiring and transmitting information on the audience of audiovisual programs and multimedia applications has, on the one hand, a means for decoding and converting broadcast signals into video signals. / audio / data and transmit them to a plurality of multimedia devices in response to a control signal from a control device and on the other hand from a return channel for transmitting information on the broadcast signals selected by said device control. It comprises the following steps: * configuration of said decoding means (4) according to a measurement program; * processing according to the measurement program in a measurement device (140, 142, 144, 146) of the information extracted from the broadcast signals selected by the control device (7); and

  * transmission of said information extracted by the return channel (20).

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  Furthermore, according to the present invention, the device for acquiring and transmitting information on the audience of audiovisual broadcasts and multimedia applications has on the one hand a means of decoding and converting broadcast signals into video / audio signals / data and transmit them to a plurality of multimedia devices in response to a control signal from a control device and on the other hand from a return channel for transmitting information on the broadcast signals selected by said control device . It comprises a measurement device integrated into said decoding means io so as to cooperate with the latter. Said measurement device contains: * an extraction module for extracting information on the broadcast signals selected by the control device; and * a calculation means for locally processing this information according to a measurement program stored in a memory in order to transmit

  only information processed by the return channel.

  In one embodiment, the device and the method are adapted either for the transmission of broadcast signals of digital type o the information is extracted from the tables dedicated to the information service, or for the transmission of broadcast signals of analog type where the information is extracted from

lines not displayed.

  Other characteristics and advantages of the invention will appear

  with the description of some of its embodiments for information,

  this description being made with reference to the attached drawings on

  which: FIGS. 1A-1 B illustrate the installation of the main elements according to the present invention; FIG. 2A gives an example of organization of an environment for the broadcasting of digital television according to the standards of European DVB;

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  FIG. 2B illustrates the case where an application uses a sub-

  application; FIG. 3 gives an example of a general organization of "information services" according to the MPEG-2 standard; FIG. 4 illustrates an example of a possible scenario for an audience measurement or survey; Figure 5 illustrates an example flowchart of the measurement

  of the present invention.

  The embodiment of the invention which will be described in relation to the figures mainly relates to a device and a method for acquiring and transmitting data on the audience of television broadcasts, preferably in digital. But this device and this method can just as easily be adapted in an environment where the signals have other forms but contain information which can be processed by

similar ways.

  Likewise, these broadcasts are not necessarily television broadcasts, but may be multimedia applications of any other nature provided that they are transmitted and received in the form of signals

  video, audio or data. In this description, it is important to note that

  There are two concepts of services in the general sense: the multimedia application which concerns an electronic service such as a consultation catalog or other commercial services and the "service" of the DVB standard which is a sequence of a program broadcast among other "services" of the same transponder. Both types of services are the subject of the measure

  according to the present invention.

  Furthermore, the measures that are transmitted are not only intended for audience measurement purposes, they can be used for polling or investigative purposes insofar as the information that is provided is extremely varied and can be targeted according to

changeable criteria.

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  FIG. 1A thus illustrates the installation of the main elements according to the present invention. This installation comprises a decoder (4) which has an input (41) for receiving digital signals and an output (42) for its connection to a television receiver (5) via its input (52). The digital signals which are received by the decoder (4) are transmitted by a terrestrial transmitter (6) by radio wave, by satellite or by

cable (60).

  o The commands of the television receiver (5) and the decoder (4) are carried out by means of a remote control device (7) by infrared

(70) available to the user.

  Thanks to an integrated modem (modulator / demodulator), the i5 decoder (4) is then connected by an output (43) to a return channel (20) to a database (2). The function of this database is to collect all the information transmitted by the decoders in order to process it and provide the results to an audience measurement organization (1), a polling organization or quite simply to a broadcasting company. It should thus be noted that in the present invention, this database has the advantage of being able to be assimilated to the various organizations insofar as the data which are sent are already pre-processed locally. This database as well as these organizations are controlled and managed remotely by a terminal (3) which thus ensures the monitoring of

data stored there.

  According to the present invention, the decoder (4) contains an audience measurement device which can determine the program which is watched or recorded, the time and the duration with great precision since the measurements are carried out by the software of the decoder at moment when it stalls on the "service". These measurements can be made with respect to the internal clock of the decoder or with respect to the time tables transmitted on the stream,

  for example the TDT (time and date Table) and / or TOT (time offset table).

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  This determination is of course carried out without user intervention or

  even from the measurement or survey body.

  The existing systems currently use measurement boxes external to the decoders. These systems are unable to determine and control the audiovisual programs or multimedia applications, according to the language of digital television, which are selected. On the contrary in the present invention, a measuring device is integrated in the casing of the decoder so as to cooperate with the latter. Thus, it is possible to download an audience measurement or polling program from a telecommunication network, whether it is a wired network or a wireless network and to save it in a memory. integrated into the

decoder box.

  This measurement program can interact at the graphical interface of the decoder box. In addition, it is possible to set up a dialogue between the user and the measurement organization by making it possible to modify the measurement criteria or by varying the number of measurement criteria directly in the box of the decoder. tell the source

even.

  The measurement criteria are, for example, those established in

  TDT, TOT, SDT (Service Description Table), EIT (Event) tables

  Information Table) of the ETSI DVB standard. These tables provide information in chronological order concerning the events contained in each "service". This information includes the start of the event, its duration, its identification, etc. with use

possible private descriptors.

  In addition, since this measuring device is not simply intended for measurement or survey organizations, it is possible to use other measurement criteria - by simply modifying the parameters of the measurement program for the needs of the users. These additional criteria l 2780225 relate for example to the name of the person watching the program or who requested the multimedia application. Other data specific to each user can be given so that the latter somehow replaces the measurement or survey body and performs measurements which are specific to it. These additional possibilities do not require modifying the hardware of the decoders and

  operate with a traditional remote control device.

  The internal processing of audience or polling measurements 0o can perform complex calculations so as to include, for example, average values established over a day, a week or for any duration, or over a type of broadcast, theme or event. In short, these measurements or data can be numerous and complex so that it is preferable to pre-process them initially in these

  iS measuring devices before transmitting them.

  Thus this data or information is manipulated and preprocessed without having to use the correspondence tables between the viewing time and the chosen channel to determine the selected program as previously mentioned or even other tedious actions of the measurement organization. or survey, as was done naturally by exploiting the data of the transmitted stream. Once these data are processed, the measuring device then transmits them by the return channel (20) to the database (2), at the request of the latter or on the initiative of the receiver according to the criterion. receiver activity or communication rate, etc. To this end, the decoder has an integrated modem which can send information to measurement or survey organizations, program broadcasters or advertisers. This modem communicates remotely with a "host" so that the measuring device can be called for the transmission of delayed measurements or initiate

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  dialogues in real time with these different organizations or simply with the user. FIG. 1B is a block diagram of an integrated DVB-type digital television decoder-receiver. This block diagram is given as an example. The present invention is not limited to this physical environment. A person skilled in the art can adapt it to another environment or

  add other elements to expand this description which only gives

  the essential elements or directly related to the invention.

  The decoder (4) contains a tuner (102) whose input (41) is connected to an antenna (100) or to any cable. This tuner is connected to a demodulator (104) so that the demodulated signals are then transmitted to a demultiplexer (106) which is connected to a buffer memory called buffer (108). This demultiplexer includes a number of filters programmed by a microprocessor (120) according to the various

  applications supported by the decoder.

  Digital signals are transmitted in the form of packets which

  are separated to each represent a type of information or a "channel".

  Thus digital television signals include a video channel, an audio channel and a "service channel". It is in this service channel that the event information tables commonly called "service information" are provided. These tables will be described in more detail in Figure 3. The audio or video packets filtered by the demultiplexer are stored in predefined areas of the memory

stamp (108).

  This buffer memory is then connected to an audio decoder (110), a video decoder (112), a teletext decoder (114), an information service management module (119) as well as to the microprocessor (120). This information service management module is also connected to the

microprocessor (120).

  The decoder also includes an infrared interface of a remote control (7), said interface being connected to the microprocessor (120). The latter is connected to a memory (130) where the operating system and the resident or downloaded programs for implementing the applications are saved. The connection of the decoder on a telephone network is made by a modem (150) which is connected to the microprocessor

(120).

  An application generator (116) enables the generation of control menus or graphics relating to the parameters of the decoder or to a particular application. The video signal generated by this application generator is multiplexed with one of the video signals from the video decoder (112) or the teletext decoder (114) to the television (5)

  or a video recorder (8), the multiplexer being managed by the microprocessor.

  The invention relates more precisely to the manner in which the elements

  previously described cooperates with the measuring device whose description

  will follow to carry out audience measurements and transmit them to

  measurement organizations or users.

  The measuring device in fact comprises an information extraction module (146) which is connected on the one hand to the information service management module (119) and on the other hand to a measurement circuit (144). This measurement circuit connected to the infrared interface (160) is controlled by the microprocessor (120) to perform measurements according to the criteria of a

  measurement program or a plurality of measurement programs.

  Each measurement program requires information which is extracted by the extraction module (146) so that the data is calculated and / or gathered to transmit it to the various recipients by the modem (150) in real or delayed time. . In the latter case, the

  data are saved in a memory (140).

  The measurement program can be stored in a memory

  locale so that it contains only user criteria.

  4lA 2780225 Furthermore, this memory (140) is also connected to the application generator (116) in order to save the various interactions of the user during changes to the programs or applications. An internal clock (142) is also connected to the microprocessor (120), the measurement circuit (144) and the memory (140). Figure 2A gives an example of the organization of a digital television broadcasting environment according to European DVB standards. On the one hand, we have transmitters which are 0o satellites (220), cable transmitters (260) and hertzian wave transmitters (280). On the other side, we have receivers which are domestic components such as audio, video or multimedia devices

(250).

  The signals sent by these transmitters are multiplexed into a plurality of transponders (250) T1, T2 and T3 and a plurality of chains C1 to C6. Each transponder (satellite transmission) or channel then broadcasts "services" (240) S1 to S10 to the subscribers' receivers. As indicated above, these receivers are data processing devices capable of decoding the signals received into images, sounds or data. In a digital environment, each stream brings together a plurality of "services" which can in turn be grouped into a digital package that can bring together "services" from several broadcasters. Therefore, in this complex environment, it is desirable that the signals transmitted for each "service" contain information which can be extracted directly to perform audience or survey measurements.

  This environment is cited as an example. The present invention can be used in another environment in which the concepts of "services" or packages are replaced by other concepts, as long as the signals received by the subscribers contain the

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  information that identifies "services", "programs",

  "broadcasts" or "events" they receive.

  Furthermore, in the digital context, it is possible according to the present invention to measure applications which are transparent to a measuring device located outside the decoder. So, for example during the consumption of multimedia applications (weather, multisport, nvod, multi-channel application, etc.) to have a main application calling other sub-applications which cannot be known if the on io only detects remote control codes externally. Indeed, it is the main application that will perform the uZapping "on the sub-application which can be another multimedia application in itself. It is therefore necessary that the audience measurement device is" connected "to the software module who

  actually "zaps" the machine.

  This is illustrated in Figure 2B which shows a plurality of services, applications as well as an A5 sub-application. This sub-application is

  common to an S4 service through an A4 application and the S5 service.

  In this case, according to the present invention, when the user zaps from the application A4 to the application A5, the measuring device can detect this change and read the information concerning the change of applications. In the case where several sub-applications are accessible by the main application, detection is always possible

according to the present invention.

  FIG. 3 gives an example of a general organization of "information services" according to the MPEG-2 standard in the context of European digital television. This context is illustrated only for

  example for understanding the present invention.

  The "information service" (SI) provides among other things information to automatically configure the decoder to demultiplex and decode

  the various program streams in the multiplexer.

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  In order to achieve this, the data required is for example the identification of "services" and events for the user. Coding details are given in the ETSI DVB standards previously mentioned. This data is for example structured as follows: * A bouquet association table "BAT" which provides the information

  relating to bouquets such as the name of the "services" which are provided.

  o has a description table of "services" (SDT) which contains the data

  describing the "services" in the system.

  An "EIT" event information table which contains data on events or programs such as name, start, duration etc. A current status table "RST" which gives the status (current or

no) of an event.

  ò A "TDT" agenda table which gives information on the current time and date. This table is updated to adapt to

local times and to be exact.

  This description is not exhaustive, other tables may be

  set up to contain other information that is useful for audience measurement or survey both for measurement organizations and for the needs of users. The data is extracted from these tables to be processed and saved in the devices of

decoder measurement.

  As for the example of an audience measurement scenario in FIG. 4, it illustrates the actions which take place between the user and the advertiser or the broadcaster. By switching on the television set or the multimedia device which is connected to the decoder, the user simultaneously activates the audience measurement or polling device by means of a notification.

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  of interaction transmitted by the decoder. Then, the user may have to zap as many times as he wishes, N times as shown in the figure. And during this phase of interaction between the decoder and the measurement device, information is exchanged as many times as necessary to enable the types of information required for audience measurement to be given. This information relates to the data which are inserted into the signals received by the decoder and which are in the structures of the "information service" of FIG. 3. They are then saved in the memory (140) internal to the measuring device io or transmitted directly to measurement organizations in the case of a

request in real time.

  Then the audience measurements are collected in the measurement device to be transmitted to the database regularly or in real time depending on demand. In the case of an audience measurement or a deferred survey, the measurement organization can issue a hearing measurement request to collect previous data from the measurement device. These audience measurements can be transmitted as many times as necessary (M times depending on the frequency

requested).

  The database thus centralizes the measurements transmitted by the various decoders. It can be questioned by the advertiser or by any other organization which sends it a request for an audience measurement report. In a particular implementation, the measurement organization and the database can be constituted by a single entity

  since the data that is transmitted by the decoders is already pre-

  processed. FIG. 5 illustrates an example of the exchanges between the decoder,

  the measuring apparatus and the measuring body according to the present invention.

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  In step (500), the decoder and the measuring device are switched off. As soon as they are switched on, the two devices initialize and load the configurations required in step (510). In step (512), the measuring device records the start time and starts a default service and is about to carry out data measurements from step (514). Then, in step (516), the measurement program determines whether the

decoder is in "Standby" mode.

  If the decoder is not in "standby" mode, it is necessary to determine if the user is zapping on different "services", in step (520). If this is the case, by giving access to the new service in step (522), the measurement device records the information relating to the user's zapping, in step (524). Then, the measurement program loops back to step (514). In case the user is not zapping,

  the program returns directly to step (514).

  In the case where the decoder is in "standby" mode, the measurement program determines whether it must collect the data from the "information service" at step (530) following a request from the measurement organization or the data bank. In which case, the data is transmitted to the measurement body in step (532). Otherwise, the measurement program

  returns to the initial step (500) '.

  It is important to note that the term decoder is used in

  this description in a generic way. It can be replaced by a box

  electronic components whose functionalities are those for example of a "network computer" which is connected to a telephone network

  or any telecommunication.

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Claims (10)

Claims   1. A method of acquiring and transmitting information on the audience of audiovisual programs or multimedia applications comprising: - means (4) for decoding and converting broadcast signals into video / audio / data signals and transmitting them to a a plurality of multimedia devices (5, 8) in response to a control signal from a control device (7); io - a return channel (20) for transmitting information on the broadcast signals selected by said control apparatus (7); said method characterized in that it comprises the following steps: * configuration of said decoding means (4) according to a measurement program; * processing, according to the measurement program, of information extracted from the broadcast signals selected by the control device (7) in a measurement device (140, 142, 144, 146); and   ò transmission of said extracted information by the return channel (20).   2. Method according to claim 1 wherein said measurement program is inserted into said broadcast signals and comprising the following step: downloading of said measurement program into said means for   decoding (4) before the configuration step.   3. Method according to claims 1 or 2 wherein the program   measures contains measurement criteria that can be modified by downloading so as to * request certain categories of decoding means (4) meeting said criteria contained in the measurement program; or * to process and transmit certain information extracted by means of back (20). 2780225   4. Method according to claims 1, 2 or 3 characterized in that said   extracted information is transmitted by the return channel (20) to   measurement organizations or the user of multimedia devices (5, 8).   5. Method according to any one of the preceding claims   characterized in that it is used in a sounding process in which   the extracted information is transmitted in real time.   6. Device for acquiring and transmitting information on the audience of audiovisual programs or multimedia applications comprising: - means (4) for decoding and converting broadcast signals into video / audio / data signals and transmitting them to a a plurality of multimedia devices (5, 8) in response to a control signal from a control device (7); - a return channel (20) for transmitting information on the broadcast signals selected by said control apparatus (7); said device characterized in that it further comprises: a measurement device (140, 142, 144, 146) integrated in said decoding means (4) so as to cooperate with the latter, and containing: * a module for extraction (146) for extracting information on the broadcast signals selected by the control apparatus (7); and * a calculation means (144) for locally processing this information according to a measurement program stored in a memory (140) in order to   transmit only information processed by the return channel.   7. Device according to claim 6 characterized in that the measurement program is downloaded into said memory (140) and in that the   back is connected to a telephone network.   8. Device according to claim 6 characterized in that the measurement program is stored in a local memory so as to contain   only user criteria. 21 2780225   9. Device and method according to any one of the claims   previous characterized in that the information on the broadcast signals is of digital type so that they extract from the tables dedicated to information service.   10. Device and method according to any one of the claims   previous characterized in that the information on the broadcast signals are of analog type so that they are extracted from the lines not displayed.