(12) United States Patent (10) Patent No.: US 8,784,207 B2 Ramaswamy Et Al
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US008784207 B2 (12) United States Patent (10) Patent No.: US 8,784,207 B2 Ramaswamy et al. (45) Date of Patent: *Jul. 22, 2014 (54) METHODS AND APPARATUS TO METER (58) Field of Classification Search VIDEO GAME PLAY USPC ............................................................ 463/37 See application file for complete search history. (71) Applicants: Arun Ramaswamy, Tampa, FL (US); John C. Peiffer, New Port Richey, FL (56) References Cited (US) U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS (72) Inventors: Arun Ramaswamy, Tampa, FL (US); John C. Peiffer, New Port Richey, FL 4,004,097 A 1/1977 Spaulding (US) 4,352,104 A 9, 1982 Mizuta et al. (Continued) 73) Assignee:9. The Nielsen Companypany (US), LLC, Schaumburg, IL (US) FOREIGN PATENT DOCUMENTS *) Notice: Subject to anyy disclaimer, the term of this EP 1759.745 3, 2007 patent is extended or adjusted under 35 WO 2006O901.97 8, 2006 U.S.C. 154(b) by 0 days. OTHER PUBLICATIONS This patent is Subject to a terminal dis International Bureau, “International Preliminary Report on Patent claimer. ability,” issued in connection with corresponding PCT/US2008/ (21) Appl. No.: 13/847,860 061177, mailed Jan. 7, 2010.7 pages. (Continued) (22) Filed: Mar 20, 2013 Primary Examiner — Steven J Hylinski (65) Prior Publication Data (74) Attorney, Agent, or Firm — Hanley, Flight & US 2013/0217499 A1 Aug. 22, 2013 Zimmerman, LLC Related U.S. Application Data (57) ABSTRACT (63) Continuation of application No. 12/023,844, filed on Methods and apparatus to meter video game play are dis Jan. 31, 2008, now Pat. No. 8,430,752. closed. An example method includes detecting media identi (60) Provisional application No. 60/936,390, filed on Jun. fying information corresponding to media presented in an 20, 2007. environment including a video game system capable of executing a plurality of video games; identifying which of the (51) Int. Cl. plurality of video games is being played via a video game A63F 9/24 (2006.01) controller based on the media identifying information, A63F 3/00 (2014.01) wherein the video game controller is coupled to a sensor to H4N2L/44 (2011.01) detect motion data related to movement of the video game A63F 3/02 (2006.01) controller and to transmit the motion data without affecting (52) U.S. Cl. operation of the video game system; and combining, via a CPC ........... A63F 9/24 (2013.01); A63F2300/1043 processor, the media identifying information with the motion (2013.01); H04N 2 1/441 (2013.01); data received from the sensor. A63F 13/02 (2013.01) USPC .................... 463/37: 463/36: 463/46; 463/47 22 Claims, 7 Drawing Sheets TO OFFICECENTRA t 120 --- US 8,784,207 B2 Page 2 (56) References Cited 7,737,944 B2 6/2010 Harrison et al. 7,753,788 B2 7/2010 Lumet al. 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Dec. 20, 2012, 27 pages. 7,412,883 8, 2008 Krullaards 7,674,177 3, 2010 Cole * cited by examiner U.S. Patent Jul. 22, 2014 Sheet 1 of 7 US 8,784,207 B2 TO CENTRA OFFICE 120 114 112 112 108 (e) O O 114 114 112 FIG. 1 U.S. Patent Jul. 22, 2014 Sheet 2 of 7 US 8,784,207 B2 k!!!!!!!! FIG. 2A 208 208 S````No. 210 FIG. 2B U.S. Patent Jul. 22, 2014 Sheet 3 of 7 US 8,784,207 B2 MEMORY 306 FLTER ENCODER 304 314 POWER SUPPLY 312 RECEIVER 320 TO P O P TO P TO P FILTER MOD 332 y - 316C { 318b A. : 316b -/ is /Micy E A r . : 330 326 324 H - H - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - FIG. 3C FIG. 3B U.S. Patent Jul. 22, 2014 Sheet 4 of 7 US 8,784,207 B2 120 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - RECEIVER DECODER 404 406 COMMUNCATION NTERFACE al ^ 414 SENSOR 41 O. PROXMY SENSORS 412 FIG. 4 U.S. Patent Jul. 22, 2014 Sheet 5 Of 7 US 8,784,207 B2 START START TMER 502 CLEAR MOVEMENT FAG 504 MOVEMENT YES SET MOVEMENT FLAG DETECTED? 506 508 NO TMEREXP.? 50 YES MEAS BAT 512 X-MT PAYOAD 514 RESET TIMER 516 FIG. 5 U.S. Patent Jul. 22, 2014 Sheet 6 of 7 US 8,784,207 B2 START START MER 602 MOVEMENT SAVE MVMT. NFO TO DETECTED? MEMORY 604 606 MVMT. WIN LAST NYES TIMER), EXP. TME PEROOP 610 MEAS. BATT. 612 X-MT PAYLOAD 614 RESETT 614 TIMER T EXP.? 618 MEAS. BAT. 620 X-MT PAYLOAD 622 RESETT 624 FIG. 6 U.S. Patent Jul. 22, 2014 Sheet 7 Of 7 US 8,784,207 B2 START DETECT PRESENCE NFORMATON AND AUDO SGNAS 702 METER ONTIATE YES EXCHANGE 704 SEND PAYLOAD PAYOAD RECQUEST YES X-MTENGT 706 718 TME SINCE AST RESPONSET YES EY X-M > NO 708 712 THRESHOOT --------- 720 NO YES STORE PAYOAD NFORMATION 714. X-MT PAYLOAD TO ENTITY 716 X-MET REPLACEMENT NFO TO ENTITY 710 FIG. 7 US 8,784,207 B2 1. 2 METHODS AND APPARATUS TO METER FIG. 4 is a block diagram of an example tag meter for use VIDEO GAME PLAY with the system of FIG. 1. FIGS. 5 and 6 are flow diagrams representative of example RELATED APPLICATION machine readable instructions that may be executed to imple ment the example system of FIG. 1. This patentarises from a continuation of U.S. patent appli FIG. 7 is a flow diagram representative of example cation Ser. No. 12/023,844, filed Jan. 31, 2008, now U.S. Pat. machine readable instructions that may be executed to imple No. 8,430,752, which claims priority from U.S. Provisional ment the example tag meter of FIG. 4. Patent Application Ser. No. 60/936,390, filed on Jun. 20, 2007, entitled “Methods and Apparatus to Meter Video Game 10 DETAILED DESCRIPTION Play.” U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/023,844 and U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 60/936,390 are Video game play may be monitored by asking selected hereby incorporated herein by reference in their entireties and households and/or corresponding audience members to keep priority to both applications is claimed. a log and/or diary of activity when using a video game con 15 sole. However, such demands may be viewed as invasive FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE and/or cumbersome to the audience members. In general, the example methods and apparatus illustrated herein may be The present disclosure relates generally to media monitor used to unobtrusively monitor video game activity of one or ing and, more particularly, to methods and apparatus to meter more audience members.