JP2006254145A - Audience concentration degree measuring method of tv program - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To propose an audience concentration degree measuring method which measures the quality of viewing and listening by determining whether a televiewer watches a program actually concentrated with interest or not. <P>SOLUTION: The audience concentration degree measuring method catches a motion of eyes of a televiewer who is viewing and listening to a program by means of an eye camera 1, and measures a televiewer's gaze degree to a screen which shows a program according to a moving state (locus IL) of a sight line I obtained by the eye camera 1. Since the sight line of a televiewer is hardly moved when concentrated on a program, he gazes mostly at the center of the screen so that the degree of concentration to a program can be measured. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a method for measuring the viewing quality of a television (television system) program.

  Conventionally, a viewing “rate” of a television program, that is, an indicator of how many viewers watched the program has been widely used, and various methods for measuring the audience rate have been proposed. However, in the case of a method that simply measures the audience rating, it includes situations where the audience was watching casually, for example, while making phone calls or doing housework. Quality “= viewing quality” cannot be grasped. Previously, the only way to ascertain this audience quality was to rely on questionnaires, but this is only to understand the viewer ’s subjective impressions of program viewing. It is inevitable that the measurement error will be mixed in the answer because it includes data that you have been looking at without focusing while doing other things.

  If you can objectively measure audience quality, which is an index of watching with interest and concentration, you can determine which content in the TV program attracted you most, It can be used as information for generating hit programs by devising how to assemble the contents of the program, etc. As methods for measuring such audience quality, methods shown in Patent Documents 1 to 3 have been proposed so far.

JP 2000-092523 A JP 2000-209578 A JP2003-111106A

  The method disclosed in Patent Document 1 is to capture the viewer's eyes and detect blinks to confirm consciousness. However, the number of blinks varies depending on the situation such as a tear-scene or indoor drying. Doing so, or the situation of “watching while watching”, such as making a phone call while facing the TV screen, also includes doubts about accuracy.

  The method disclosed in Patent Document 2 is to perform gaze evaluation by imaging a face, and describes a method that can measure whether the face is angled or eye-to-eye distance and whether it is facing sideways. Yes. However, in this case as well, it is impossible to distinguish between “watching” while making a phone call while facing the TV screen.

  The method disclosed in Patent Document 3 is to measure the degree of concentration using a biological sensor that measures the pulse and skin temperature. In this case, too, the user is watching a TV while making a phone call. Sometimes, it is impossible to determine whether the measured value has changed due to the influence of the program or whether the measured value has changed due to the influence of the conversation during the phone call, and it is not possible to distinguish “while watching”.

  The present invention has been made in view of such a technical background, and an object thereof is to propose an audience quality measurement method capable of measuring audience quality with higher accuracy.

  The television program audience quality measurement method proposed in the present invention uses the eye camera to capture the eye movement of the viewer watching the program, and displays the program according to the movement of the line of sight obtained from the eye camera. It is characterized by measuring the degree of viewer's gaze on the screen.

  When the user is focused on the program, the person's line of sight almost looks at the center of the screen and hardly moves. This is well known from, for example, observation of the eye state of a person who is playing a game. On the other hand, the line of sight often moves while making a call or doing other things while watching. Therefore, the degree of gaze on the program can be accurately measured by capturing the movement state of the line of sight of the person sitting in front of the screen.

  As the movement state of the line of sight, the number of movements of the line of sight, the movement amplitude, and the movement distance can be preferably used. That is, if the number of times of movement within a predetermined time is large, it can be inferred that the line of sight is frequently deviated from the screen, so that a measurement result that the degree of gaze is low (not concentrated on the program) can be obtained. Also, if the movement amplitude is large, it can be inferred that the line of sight is off the screen and that another object is distracted, so a measurement result indicating that the degree of gaze is low can be obtained. Further, if the moving distance is long, it can be inferred that the time when the line of sight is off the screen is long, so that a measurement result that the degree of gaze is low can be obtained. On the contrary, if the value is low, the degree of gazing is higher, and the measurement result that the program is concentrated is obtained.

  According to the present invention, by using an eye camera to track the viewer's line of sight and measuring the degree of gaze on the screen, it has succeeded in accurately obtaining the degree of concentration on the program, that is, the audience quality. This degree of gaze can be measured in real time while watching the program, and continuous data can be obtained over time, that is, the measurement data can have a time axis. Data that can be used to evaluate the quality of the program, such as whether it has increased, is also available. Therefore, it is useful as reference data in program creation, such as program editing, scenario, music insertion timing, camera work, etc. by using it together with audience rating data.

  A preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  As shown in FIG. 1, in the audience quality measurement method of the present invention, an eye camera 1 connected to a television receiver TV, a set top box STB, and a control computer PC is used. In addition to the stationary type shown in FIG. 1, the eye camera 1 can be of a glasses type or a hat type as shown in FIGS. In addition, the STB of this example has a data collection function for a known audience rating survey at present.

  The eye camera 1 is now a well-known device that measures eye movement using infrared rays, detects the direction of the eyeball, and has a function of grasping the line of sight of the subject (viewer). have. A general configuration includes an infrared lamp (LED or the like) 1a and a camera (CCD or the like) 1b that receives infrared rays reflected from the eyeball, and may include a visual field camera 1c.

  With this eye camera 1, it is possible to capture the line of sight I of the viewer watching the program on the TV screen, and the line of sight data can be stored in the computer PC connected to the counting center via a predetermined communication line. The STB is also connected to the computer PC, and the data used for the audience rate survey such as the data of the program being viewed is recorded together with the data of the line of sight I. The program can be either currently on air or recorded. The audience quality and audience rating data stored in the computer PC are sent from the communication line to the aggregation center, and the data of a large number of viewers are aggregated and used.

  The viewer's line of sight I watching the program is located almost in the center of the screen and does not move much if it is concentrated on the program. However, if the user is not interested in the program or is doing other things such as making a phone call, the user frequently moves as shown by the locus IL of the line of sight I indicated by a dotted line. Therefore, if the trajectory IL indicating the moving state of the line of sight I obtained from the eye camera 1 is analyzed by the computer PC, the degree of gaze on the screen can be measured, and it is determined whether the viewer is concentrated on the program. be able to.

  As the movement state of the line of sight I, it is relatively easy to analyze the number of movements, the movement amplitude, and the movement distance. The number of movements can be analyzed, for example, by counting the apex P of the trajectory IL within one minute. Further, the movement amplitude can be analyzed by calculating, for example, the maximum interval between the apexes PP of the trajectory IL within one minute = the maximum amplitude M. Furthermore, the moving distance can be analyzed by measuring the total length of the trajectory IL within one minute, for example.

  If any of the number of movements, the movement amplitude, and the movement distance is large, it indicates that the line of sight I has moved much, so it is determined that the degree of gaze is low. Conversely, if the value is small, it indicates that the line of sight I is not moving, so it is determined that the degree of gaze is high and the program is concentrated. These analysis and data collection are executed by a dedicated software program activated in the computer PC.

  Data collection and analysis of the eye camera 1 and the STB by the computer PC are executed in real time for the currently viewed program, and are accumulated in one minute units as an example. Therefore, since the viewer's gaze degree, that is, the degree of concentration can be ascertained every minute, it is possible to know which contents (including commercials) in the program have increased the degree of concentration. By superimposing personalized data, etc., as grasped by a normal audience rating survey, it is possible to accurately grasp which program content is most interesting by age group or region. . It is also possible to increase the accuracy by adding the results of a subsequent questionnaire survey.

  Since highly concentrated content can be said to have a strong power to attract viewers as a program, it can be used for later program creation and serves as reference data for program editing, scenarios, timing of music insertion, camera work, and the like. It is also possible to analyze the pattern of the program based on the audience quality of the hit program and proceed with program creation with reference to the hit pattern.

1 is a schematic diagram of a measuring apparatus according to an audience quality measuring method of the present invention. Schematic which shows the other example of an eye camera. Schematic which shows the further another example of an eye camera.

Explanation of symbols

1 Eye Camera TV TV Receiver STB Set Top Box PC Computer

Claims (4)

  The movement of the eyes of the viewer watching the program is captured by an eye camera, and the degree of gaze of the viewer with respect to the screen displaying the program is measured based on the movement of the line of sight obtained from the eye camera. A method for measuring audience quality of TV programs.   2. The method for measuring audience quality of a television program according to claim 1, wherein the degree of gaze is measured based on the number of eye movements obtained from the eye camera.   2. The method for measuring audience quality of a television program according to claim 1, wherein the degree of gaze is measured by the movement amplitude of the line of sight obtained from the eye camera.   2. The method for measuring audience quality of a television program according to claim 1, wherein a gaze degree is measured based on a moving distance of a line of sight obtained from the eye camera.

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