Method and system for tracking network use
View Patent ↗An interactive media delivery system enables interactive media programming to a multimedia device and also tracks a subscriber's use of the multimedia device. For example, the device tracks events, such as a change in programming, a change in channel selection, and/or the subscriber's interaction with a particular interactive services application. Each event may be stored as an event record in a database, and one or more of the event records may be merged with content data to form event timelines of programming or other activity to the multimedia device over a selected time period. Further, timelines may be analyzed to generate ratings and other information about programming and may also be correlated with demographics data for marketing analysis.
1. A system for collecting and processing information about subscribers' selection and use of programming distributed over a media delivery network, the system comprising:
a) merge processor coupled via means for communication to
b) a plurality of set top boxes, each comprising a processor for
(1) collecting a plurality of event records that describe selected commands from a subscriber to a particular set top box and
(2) transmitting event records to the merge processor;
c) wherein the merge processor forms an event timeline describing a subscriber's selection of distributed programming for a discrete time period by merging the event records with programming data describing programming available via the media delivery system.
2. A system according to claim 1 wherein the programming data comprises data collected from at least two sources selected from the group consisting of: a broadcasting schedule source, a national advertising schedule source, a local advertising schedule source and an interactive application use schedule source.
3. A system according to claim 1 wherein each set top box further comprises a plurality of applications capable of being invoked by a subscriber.
4. A system according to claim 3 wherein each event record comprises:
(1) an application identifier corresponding to the application associated with the recorded event;
(2) an event identification code; and
(3) a time stamp associated with the initiation of the event.
5. A system according to claim 4 wherein each application creates an event upon detection of selected commands from the subscriber.
6. A system according to claim 1 further comprising a buffer for storing the event records before transmission.
7. A system according to claim 1 wherein the merge processor forms an event timeline for each of the plurality of set top boxes.
8. A system according to claim 7 further comprising an analysis engine for correlating the event timelines with demographics information describing the subscribers.
9. A method for journaling information about subscriber use of a media delivery network for delivering programming and a merge processor for analyzing the resulting journaled information, the method comprising the steps of:
a) collecting information about a plurality of subscribers' use of a media delivery network, the collecting step comprising:
i) identifying commands of interest from each subscriber;
ii) forming event records that record at least the commands of interest and a time associated with the command;
b) transmitting event records to the merge processor;
c) merging the event records with data describing the programming delivered over the media network in order to form event timelines of which describes the programming selected by a particular subscriber over a discrete time period.
10. A method according to claim 9 wherein the identifying step comprises the step of correlating each command of interest with a global table comprising identification codes.
11. A method according to claim 9 further comprising the step of filtering the event timelines in order to classify subscribers' viewing patterns into at least two categories.
12. A method according to claim 11 wherein the first category comprises programming watched by a subscriber for greater than a selected threshold percent of the total program length.
13. A system for determining the viewing habits of subscribers to a media delivery network for delivering programming, the system comprising:
a) a collector for collecting event records describing subscribers' selection and use of programming;
b) means, coupled to the collector, for communicating event records to
c) a merge processor for processing the event records to form a selected subscriber an event timeline describing the programming delivered to a selected subscriber over a particular time period via the media delivery network;
d) means for storing demographics information about selected groups of subscribers; and
e) wherein the merge processor forms a plurality of event timelines and correlates the demographics information with the event timelines.
14. A system according to claim 13 in which the merge processor applies filtering criteria to the event records to determine the programming watched by a subscriber for greater than a selected percent of the programming.
15. A system according to claim 14 in which the collector is deployed upon a set top box that is associated with a display device for displaying delivered programming.
16. A system according to claim 15 in which the subscriber controls the set top box via a remote device in order to invoke and run a variety of applications and the collector forms event records by:
a) identifying a code that corresponds to a command of interest entered by a selected subscriber; and
b) storing in a buffer, associated with the collector, an event record comprising
(1) the code corresponding to the command; and
(2) a time stamp.