A
fingerprint reading mechanism is utilized so as to determine which audience members are present during various stages of an audio, visual, or audiovisual program. The
fingerprint reading mechanism is associated with a
processing mechanism, an “enter” button, an “exit” button, a
clock, memory, an output indicator, and a code
receiver. As an audience member enters or exits the program performance area, the audience member places a hand, or portion thereof, in proximity to the
fingerprint reading mechanism, and also presses the “enter” or “exit” button as appropriate. Optionally, the functionalities of the “enter” button and the fingerprint reading mechanism may be combined into a single automatically activated enter / fingerprint reading mechanism, and the functionalities of the “exit” button and the fingerprint reading mechanism may be combined into a single automatically activated exit / fingerprint reading mechanism. The fingerprint reading mechanism generates a fingerprint data
record in response to a human hand, or portion thereof, held in proximity thereto. The
processing mechanism compares the generated fingerprint data
record with each of a plurality of stored fingerprint
data records accessed from memory so as to permit retrieval of an audience member identifier corresponding to the generated fingerprint data
record. An audience log entry associates the retrieved audience member identifier with a corresponding
clock time parameter and a corresponding enter / exit parameter. In response to retrieving an audience member identifier from a generated set of fingerprint data, the
processing mechanism creates and stores an audience log entry by loading the current value of the
clock as the
clock time parameter.