US5450122A
Expired / Lapsed
US
⏱️ 0.0 years remaining
In-station television program encoding and monitoring system and method
Assignee: Nielsen Co US LLC
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Filing: 1991-11-22
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Granted: 1995-09-12
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Expires: 2011-11-22
Abstract
Abstract An in-station method and apparatus for encoding television programs, including commercials, with a digital identification code recorded on a selected video scan line which is not normally visible to the television viewer, and for verifying the proper airing of such programs by such television broadcast station. The encoding and decoding is performed at the broadcast station during its normal operating procedure. The program is encoded during the normal dubbing procedure when a program video tape is dubbed to a video cartridge for use by the broadcast station's library management system. The decoder is located either at the station at an off-air monitor, or at the transmitter, where it monitors the transmitted signal from the broadcast station and records the occurrence of encoded programs or commercials. The information generated is stored locally for later transmission to a host computer where the information can be combined with information from other broadcast stations and other databases.
Inventors
- 👤 Leonard D. Keene
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
US
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-10-26 15:27
CPC Classifications
H; H04; H04H; H04H20/00; H04H20/12; H04H20/14; H04H60/00; H04H60/35; H04H60/37; H04H60/375; H04N; H04N5/00; H04N5/76; H04N5/91; H04N5/92; H04N5/9201; H04N5/9206; H04N7/00; H04N7/08; H04N7/087; H04N7/088; H04N7/0887
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 30
Claim 1
Independent Claim
149 words
An in-station system for automatically encoding and monitoring the transmission of television programs at a television station, said station having a video library management system, comprising, at the station: an input video player for playing a recorded Storage medium containing a program received at the station; an encoder coupled to the output of said video player for encoding the video information signal of said received program with identifying data; a video recorder coupled to said encoder for recording said encoded program onto a video storage medium compatible with the station's video library management system; database means for storing information concerning the recorded encoded programs; a tuner/decoder for receiving the programs transmitted by such station and for detecting the presence of such identifying data on the video information signal of said received programs; and means for storing information concerning the identity and transmission of encoded programs in said database means.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
149 words
An in-station system for automatically encoding and monitoring the transmission of television programs at a television station, said station having a video library management system, comprising, at the station: an input video player for playing a recorded Storage medium containing a program received at the station; an encoder coupled to the output of said video player for encoding the video information signal of said received program with identifying data; a video recorder coupled to said encoder for recording said encoded program onto a video storage medium compatible with the station's video library management system; database means for storing information concerning the recorded encoded programs; a tuner/decoder for receiving the programs transmitted by such station and for detecting the presence of such identifying data on the video information signal of said received programs; and means for storing information concerning the identity and transmission of encoded programs in said database means.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
30 words
The in-station system of claim 1 wherein said encoder includes means for selecting a line in the overscan region of the video information signal for encoding with such identifying data.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
20 words
The in-station system of claim 2 wherein said selected line is between lines 10 and 20 of the video signal.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
16 words
The in-station system of claim 2 wherein said preselected line is in the vertical blanking interval.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
35 words
The in-station system of claim 2 wherein said decoder includes means for locating such identifying data on a scan line occurring between pre-determined scan lines of the composite video information signal of said received programs.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
31 words
The in-station system of claim 1 wherein said decoder includes means for determining and storing a quality index indicative of the quality of the received video signal of such encoded programs.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
41 words
The in-station system of claim 6 wherein said decoder includes means responsive to the absence of encoded information on up to a pre-determined number of consecutive fields of an encoded program for reducing the quality index associated with such encoded program.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
97 words
In a system for automatically monitoring and verifying the transmission of television programs by a television station having a video library management system, an in-station method of encoding such programs comprising the steps performed at the station of: receiving programs to be broadcast by such station; dubbing such received programs onto a storage medium compatible with such video library management system; encoding the video portion of such received programs with an identifying code simultaneously with the dubbing of such program onto said medium and storing information concerning said dubbed encoded programs in database means at the station.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
97 words
In a system for automatically monitoring and verifying the transmission of television programs by a television station having a video library management system, an in-station method of encoding such programs comprising the steps performed at the station of: receiving programs to be broadcast by such station; dubbing such received programs onto a storage medium compatible with such video library management system; encoding the video portion of such received programs with an identifying code simultaneously with the dubbing of such program onto said medium and storing information concerning said dubbed encoded programs in database means at the station.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
76 words
In the system of claim 8, the method for verifying the transmission of such encoded programs by such station comprising: receiving at the station the video portion of the encoded programs being transmitted by said station; detecting and decoding at the station the identifying code encoded on the video portion of such received encoded programs; storing information concerning the identity and transmission of the encoded programs in said database means for transmission to a host computer.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
21 words
The method of claim 9 wherein said receiving, detecting and decoding of the encoded programs is performed at the transmitting station.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
44 words
The method of claim 9 wherein said station is a broadcast station and wherein the receiving of the video portion of the encoded programs is performed by monitoring the signal broadcast by said station at a tap at the broadcast antenna of said station.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
30 words
The method of claim 8 wherein the information encoded on said preselected line is the same on both fields of the frame of the video portion of tire encoded program.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
89 words
The method of claim 8 wherein said identifying code is encoded on a selected line in the overscan portion of the video information signal and wherein different information is encoded on the said preselected line of the odd field from that encoded on the said preselected line of even field of each frame of the video portion of the encoded program and wherein the information encoded in one field of a program remains substantially invariant while the information encoded in the other field changes continually throughout the encoded program.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
49 words
The method of claim 8 wherein the identifying code is encoded on 8 preselected line of the video portion of the encoded program and wherein such code occupies less than the full available space on said preselected line and is recorded on a central portion of said preselected line.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim
29 words
The method of claim 9 wherein said identifying code includes a cyclic redundancy check byte and further including checking each received identifying code for error upon detection and decoding.
Claim 18
Dependent Claim
28 words
The method of claim 9 further including determining a quality index for each received encoded program, based on the quality of the received video portion of said program.
Claim 19
Dependent Claim
42 words
The method of claim 9 wherein said step of detecting and decoding the identifying code includes: searching each line of the field of a received program between pre-determined lines for determining the presence of an identifying code on one of such lines.
Claim 20
Dependent Claim
23 words
The method of claim 8 wherein said preselected line is between lines 10 and 20 of the video portion of the encoded program.
Claim 21
Dependent Claim
15 words
The method of claim 8 wherein said preselected line is in the vertical blanking interval.
Claim 22
Dependent Claim
105 words
An in-station system for automatically encoding and monitoring the transmission of television programs by a station having a video management system, comprising at the station: means for encoding programs received at said station with identifying information and for dubbing the encoded programs to a storage medium compatible with the video library management system; means for receiving the video signal of programs transmitted by said station; means for detecting the presence of said identifying information on said video signal; means for separating said identifying information from said received video signal; and data base means for storing information concerning the identity and transmission of said encoded programs.
Claim 23
Dependent Claim
105 words
An in-station system for automatically encoding and monitoring the transmission of television programs by a station having a video management system, comprising at the station: means for encoding programs received at said station with identifying information and for dubbing the encoded programs to a storage medium compatible with the video library management system; means for receiving the video signal of programs transmitted by said station; means for detecting the presence of said identifying information on said video signal; means for separating said identifying information from said received video signal; and data base means for storing information concerning the identity and transmission of said encoded programs.
Claim 24
Dependent Claim
27 words
The system of claim 20 wherein said encoding means includes means for encoding a line of the overscan portion of the video signal of such received program.
Claim 25
Dependent Claim
16 words
The in-station system of claim 21 wherein said encoded line is in the vertical blanking interval.
Claim 26
Dependent Claim
43 words
The in-station system of claim 20 wherein said means for detecting the presence of an identifying code includes means for searching the fields of the received video signals between preselected lines of said video signal for detecting the presence of an identifying code.
Claim 27
Dependent Claim
27 words
The in-station system of claim 20 including means for generating quality index for each encoded program based on the quality of the video signal for such program.
Claim 28
Dependent Claim
20 words
The in-station system of claim 20 wherein said means for receiving the video signal is located at said station premises.
Claim 29
Dependent Claim
30 words
The system of claim 20 wherein said station is a broadcast station and said means for receiving the video signal includes a tap at the broadcast antenna of said station.
Claim 30
Dependent Claim
30 words
The in-station system of claim 1 further including: means for coupling said database means to a remote host computer for transmitting information stored in such database means to said host.
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USPTO Annuity & Maintenance Windows
| Annuity Stage | Window Opens | Payment Deadline | Surcharge Period Until | Estimated Fee | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3.5 Years (Year 4) | 1998-09-11 | 1999-03-13 | 1999-09-12 | $2000.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 7.5 Years (Year 8) | 2002-09-11 | 2003-03-13 | 2003-09-12 | $3760.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 11.5 Years (Year 12) | 2006-09-11 | 2007-03-13 | 2007-09-12 | $7700.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |