| Method and apparatus for logging and reporting television viewing -> Monitor Keywords |
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Method and apparatus for logging and reporting television viewingRelated Patent Categories: Interactive Video Distribution Systems, Access Control Or Blocking, Of Specific Program (e.g., Based On Program Rating)Method and apparatus for logging and reporting television viewing description/claimsThe Patent Description & Claims data below is from USPTO Patent Application 20070180463, Method and apparatus for logging and reporting television viewing. Brief Patent Description - Full Patent Description - Patent Application Claims
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS [0001] The present application is a non-provisional application claiming priority under 35 U.S.C. .sctn. 119(e) to co-pending provisional application No. 60/760,159 titled "Apparatus and Method for Logging and Reporting Television Viewing," which is hereby incorporated by reference herein. FIELD OF THE INVENTION [0002] Aspects of the present invention involve a system, method, apparatus, and computer program products for logging and reporting television viewing habits. BACKGROUND [0003] It is often the case that parents desire to understand their children's television viewing, movie viewing, video game playing, and other multimedia habits. It is well known that some multimedia presentations, whether music on a CD, a movie on DVD, various television channels, etc., can contain language and explicit content not suitable or desired by certain audiences. Thus, it would be useful for a parent to know how many total hours of programming their son has watched, or what channels their daughter most frequently selects, what video game titles their son has played, and what DVD titles their daughter plays. Such information would be especially useful for parents with teenage children that may be left at home for periods of time without parental supervision. With knowledge of their children's television viewing and other multimedia habits, parents could restrict or prohibit some viewing, encourage other viewing, and generally more effectively and accurately manage their children's multimedia entertainment. Currently, however, an easy an efficient way to obtain such information is not known to exist. SUMMARY [0004] One aspect of the present invention involves a method of logging and reporting multimedia viewing information. The method includes the operations of obtaining viewing information about a multimedia presentation and recording the viewing information. The method also includes a provision for generating a viewing report as a function of the viewing information. [0005] Another aspect of the present invention involves a system for logging and reporting multimedia viewing. The system includes an input logging module configured to obtain viewing information about a selected multimedia presentation. The system further includes an input log storage module configured to store viewing information about the selected multimedia presentation. Finally, the system includes a report generation module for generating a viewing report as a function of the stored viewing information. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS [0006] FIG. 1 is a flowchart illustrating operations involved in one method for logging and reporting multimedia presentation viewing information; [0007] FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a first system for logging and reporting multimedia presentation viewing information; [0008] FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a second system for logging and reporting multimedia presentation viewing information; [0009] FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating a third system for logging and reporting multimedia presentation viewing information; and [0010] FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating a second system for logging and reporting multimedia presentation viewing information. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION [0011] Parents and others need a way to accurately track the television viewing habits of their children or others. Aspects of the present invention involve the creation, generation, or otherwise provision of television viewing report logs that can be used to generate television viewing reports. Aspects of the invention are also adapted to provide reports for other forms of multimedia entertainment, including music on CDs, movies on DVD or other formats, pay-per-view, video-on-demand, and the like. Viewing the reports will allow a parent or other adult to monitor, study, or otherwise understand a child's or other individual's multimedia viewing and entertainment habits. Further it would be possible for an adult to take some action based on the information in the log or report. For example, based on viewing reports a parent can determine whether their child is watching appropriate programming, whether the child is spending too much time in front of the television, whether an individual is tuning into required programming, etc. The parent can also use the viewing reports to adjust the settings on other parental controls (i.e. block specific programming or channels). One platform for blocking programming is described in U.S. application Ser. No. 10/971,899 titled "Apparatus and Method for Blocking Audio/Visual Programming and for Muting Audio," filed Oct. 22, 2004, which is hereby incorporated by reference herein. [0012] FIG. 1 is a flowchart illustrating operations of a method for logging and reporting television or other multimedia viewing information, in conformance with aspects of the present invention. The method operations may be in the form of computer executable instructions running on a processor forming a part of a stand alone computer system or integrated in a television system, cable or satellite set-top box, DVD or other media player, desk top or lap top computer, or other multimedia presentation platforms. Hereafter, embodiments of a multimedia presentation platform configured in accordance with aspects of the present invention may collectively be referred to as a "logger system". First, the logger system receives and/or detects a multimedia signal (operation 10). The multimedia signal may be a digital or analog multichannel television signal being received at a tuner, may be a signal with an MPEG encoded movie from a DVD player, may be a video-on-demand signal, or any other such signal with audio, video, hyperlinks, and/or other forms of mutlimedia information. [0013] The logger system then obtains records some viewing information about the presentation of the multimedia (operations 20 and 30). The viewing information may take on various forms including an indication of play of a DVD or CD, tuning to or selecting a particular television channel, etc. The viewing information may also include other forms of information about the presentation of the multimedia, such as the time period when it was presented, the title of the multimedia, the Motion Picture Association of America rating or other rating of the multimedia, the actors in a movie, etc. This information may be extracted from a digital programming guide, such as those presented with cable and satellite systems, may be extracted from the multimedia signal itself, may be extracted from a storage medium including the multimedia (e.g., from an optical disc having a video game, DVD disc with a movie, or CD with music), may be obtained from a link to a network site (e.g., a website on the Internet such as TVGuide.com), and obtained from other sources. The viewing information may be recorded in memory forming a part of the logger system or may be recorded remotely. [0014] After recordation of some indicia of the presentation of the multimedia, the logger system may then provide a report upon receipt of a request for such a report (operations 40 and 50). For example, a user, through on screen menus presented on television or other monitor, may use a conventional remote control unit to request a report. As will be set out in further detail below, the report may be user specific, may list all users and the viewing habits, etc. The report form and format may take on various forms, and depends upon the type of indicia that is recorded about presentation of the multimedia. A simplified example of one possible report is set forth in the table below. As can be seen from the title, this is an example of a television viewing report for Andrew. The data in the report is from Jan. 19, 2007. Column one of the table shows the times that Andrew was watching television. The middle column shows the title of the television program being watched. The third column is the television channel name and channel, and the fourth column is the rating. In this example, a parent could obtain a great deal of information about Andrew's viewing habits. Here Andrew watched a Discovery channel show about geography, which Andrew's parents may not object to. Andrew also very briefly turned on the R-rated movie "Texas Chain Saw Massacre," but turned it off after only two minutes. From this information, a parent could talk to Andrew about why he turned on the movie, but decided to turn it off after only two minutes. Finally, Andrew watched the show CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, which generally depicts the various murder cases investigated by the police and police crime labs. Depending on the age of Andrew, the parent's decision, or any number of issues, Andrew's parents, upon learning that their son watched the show, may request Andrew not to watch it again due to the mature nature of the programming. To generate this report, for play of each television program, the title of the program, time of play, channel, and the rating were stored in the log. If the logger system includes a network connection, it is possible to provide a URL or other network address to a web page or other on-line information about a program listed in the report. For example, a user could point and click on the title "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" and be linked to the web page at "http://www.cbs.com/primetime/csi/" which is the http address for the CBS web page for the show CSI. TABLE-US-00001 Jan. 19, 2007 Television Viewing Log for Andrew Viewing Time Television Program Channel Rating 7:00 PM-7:30 PM Discover Atlas Discovery (12) G 7:30 PM-7:32 PM Texas Chain Saw HBO (253) R Massacre 8:15 PM-9:00 PM CSI: Crime Scene CBS (4) NA Investigation [0015] FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a first television logging and viewing system integrated within a television system (logger system). The television system includes a television channel tuner 102. The tuner 102 is in operable communication with a program and viewing report screen 104, which may be a conventional television viewing screen, whether analog, digital, cathode ray tube, liquid crystal display, plasma, etc. The tuner 102 is further in operable communication with an input logger 106 configured to intercept and record (log) channel selection inputs received from a user interface 108, whether from a remote control, integrated selection buttons, etc. Logging selection inputs include data (viewing indicia) relevant to identifying a selected channel and the time it was selected. This data alone is sufficient to generate a report with time and channel information. The input logger 106 transmits the channel selection commands to the tuner as well as an input log storage 110 (some form of memory, e.g., RAM, DRAM, SRAM, etc.) that is configured to record the channel selection data received from the input logger. The logger 106 may be a standalone processor with appropriate computer executable instructions or integrated within conventional television system processing components, like a central processing unit. [0016] The input log storage 110 is a part of or in operable communication with a viewing report generator 112. The viewing report generator 112 may be a standalone processor with appropriate computer executable instructions or section of code running within conventional television processing components. The viewing report generator 112 is in communication with a report viewing user interface 114, which may be in the form of a remote control, separate or integrated with the program selection remote, in the form of input medium, such as a keypad coupled with the television, or may be in the form of menu selections displayed on the viewing report screen and able to receive commands by way of the remote. Upon receiving an appropriate signal from the report viewing user interface 114, the viewing report generator 112 accesses information stored in the input log and generates a report that is displayed on the program and viewing report screen. [0017] By way of a user identification and/or password, it is possible to log viewing information on a user-by-user basis, and subsequently generate reports on a user-by-user basis. Indicia of a particular user may be provided or required at any time and may take many forms. For example, to access any programming or view reports, a user may be required to identify himself. Identification can be achieved in many ways, such as through a user ID or password, and other recognition technologies. Further, the password may be a form of user identification, not necessarily requiring a separate user identification. For example, to access the system, a user enters a code, which serves both to identify the user and allow access to the system. [0018] Still referring to FIG. 2, the television system 100 may further include some form of a port 118, external jack, or the like, configured to engage a corresponding connector associated with a cable or other transmission medium adapted to transmit signals from a DVD player, VHS player, set-top box, satellite receiver, cable receiver, etc. The port 118 is adapted to provide a signal, directly or indirectly as the case may be, to the program and viewing report screen for presenting the video from the external device. The port is further in communication with a second input logger 106B, which may be the same unit as the first input logger 106A or a separate unit. The second input logger receives the signal from the port and processes the signal being received in order to extract information concerning the signal, such as the channel, movie title, and program guide information associated with the channel. The second input logger is also in communication with the input log storage 110 (or loggers as the case may be), such that it may be employed to generate a viewing report 116. Continue reading about Method and apparatus for logging and reporting television viewing... Full patent description for Method and apparatus for logging and reporting television viewing Brief Patent Description - Full Patent Description - Patent Application Claims Click on the above for other options relating to this Method and apparatus for logging and reporting television viewing patent application. ###  How KEYWORD MONITOR works... a FREE service from FreshPatents1. Sign up (takes 30 seconds). 2. Fill in the keywords to be monitored. 3. Each week you receive an email with patent applications related to your keywords. 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