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EP0263635A2 Expired / Lapsed EP ⏱️ 0.0 years remaining

Apparatus for effecting market research with the aid of two-directional communication

Assignee: Ikegami Tsushinki Co Ltd
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Filing: 1987-09-29
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Granted: —
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Expires: 2007-09-29
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Abstract

Abstract An apparatus for collecting market research data and television audience rating data by transmitting data signals from respective panelist homes (1) to a data center (10) and transmitting messages from the data center to the panelist homes with the aid of a two-way communication is disclosed. A panelist home terminal includes a first data entry device (7) for entering market research data of products purchased by panelists, a second data entry device for entering answers to questions (4), a third data entry device for entering personal television audience rating data (9), a channel detector (3) for detecting television channels being viewed, a data processing device (8) for receiving the above mentioned various kinds of data and forming a transmission signal having a predetermined format, a facsimile device (15) for forming hard copies representing messages sent from the data center, and a CRT display (16) device for displaying messages sent from the data center.

Inventors

  • 👤 Shunji C/O Ikegami Tsushinki Co. Ltd. Wake
  • 👤 Yoshikazu C/O Video Research Ltd. Itoh

Bibliographic Details

Application Number —
Jurisdiction EP
Data Source google_patents
Last Synchronized 2026-10-28 08:23
CPC Classifications
H; H04; H04N; H04N21/00; H04N21/80; H04N21/81; H04N21/812; G; G06; G06Q; G06Q30/00; G06Q30/02; H04H; H04H60/00; H04H60/29; H04H60/33; H04H60/35; H04H60/38; H04H60/41; H04H60/43; H04H60/76; H04H60/81; H04H60/93; H04H60/94; H04N21/40; H04N21/47; H04N21/472; H04N21/4722; H04N7/00; H04N7/16; H04N7/173; H04N7/17309

Claims Analysis

Total Claims: 11
Claim 1
Independent Claim 183 words
An apparatus for detecting market research data from television viewers with the aid of a two way communication comprising at respective panelist homes a first data entry means for entering market research data about products purchased by panelists; a second data entry means for entering questionnaire data including answers of panelists to questions; a data processing means for receiving the market research data and questionnaire data entered by said first and second data entry means, processing the received data into a transmission data having a pre­determined format, storing the transmission data and transmitting the transmission data to a data center over a telephone type link; and a means for receiving messages sent from the data center and outputting the messages; and at the data center a means for controlling said data processing means at the panelist homes and collecting the transmission data stored therein; a means for processing the transmission data collected from the panelist homes to derive marketing research data including market research data, effec­tiveness of commercials, and answers to questions; and a means for transmitting the messages to the panelist homes.
Claim 2
Independent Claim 183 words
An apparatus for detecting market research data from television viewers with the aid of a two way communication comprising at respective panelist homes a first data entry means for entering market research data about products purchased by panelists; a second data entry means for entering questionnaire data including answers of panelists to questions; a data processing means for receiving the market research data and questionnaire data entered by said first and second data entry means, processing the received data into a transmission data having a pre­determined format, storing the transmission data and transmitting the transmission data to a data center over a telephone type link; and a means for receiving messages sent from the data center and outputting the messages; and at the data center a means for controlling said data processing means at the panelist homes and collecting the transmission data stored therein; a means for processing the transmission data collected from the panelist homes to derive marketing research data including market research data, effec­tiveness of commercials, and answers to questions; and a means for transmitting the messages to the panelist homes.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim 54 words
An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said first data entry means comprises a bar-code reader to reading out bar-codes provided on the products purchased by the panelists, a keyboard including ten keys for entering the number of products, prices of products and kinds of products, and display units for displaying numerals being entered.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim 23 words
An apparatus according to claim 2, wherein said first data entry means further comprises means for identifying respective panelists in a panelist home.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim 41 words
An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said second data entry means comprises a data trans­mitter for transmitting answers to questions, and a data receiver for receiving the answers to questions transmitted from the data transmitter and forming the questionnaire data.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim 58 words
An apparatus according to claim 4, wherein said data transmitter comprises a keyboard for entering the answers to questions and an infrared radiation emitting device for emitting an infrared radiation modulated with the entered answers to questions, and said data receiver comprises an infrared receiving element for receiving the infrared radiation transmitted from the infrared radiation emitting element.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim 40 words
An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said means for outputting the messages sent from the data center comprises a means for forming hard copies, a display device for displaying the messages and a loudspeaker for reproducing a speech signal.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim 67 words
An apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising, at the panelist home, a channel detector for detecting television channels being viewed to derive television channel data which is sent to said data processing means, and said data processing means comprises means for receiving the market research data, questionnaire data and television channel data and a means for forming transmission data composed of said three kinds of data.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim 24 words
An apparatus according to claim 7, further comprising at the panelist home, a third data entry means for entering personal television audience rating data.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim 43 words
An apparatus according to claim 8, wherein said third data entry means comprises a display device for displaying a chart in which times, television channels being viewed, identification of respective panelists can be displayed, a keyboard and a touch pen for entering data.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim 25 words
An apparatus according to claim 9, wherein said third data entry means further comprises a means for entering evaluation data for television programs being viewed.

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