Universal display media exposure measurement

Abstract

Systems, methods and devices for gathering data concerning exposure of predetermined survey participants to billboards are provided. A portable transmitter is arranged to transmit a signal containing survey participant data, and a receiver located proximately to the billboard serves to receive the signal transmitted by the transmitter.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION [0001] This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application 10 / 329,132, filed Dec. 24, 2002, assigned to the assignee of the present invention and hereby incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.FIELD OF THE INVENTION [0002] The present invention generally relates to systems, methods and devices for measuring the exposure of predetermined survey participants to billboards. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0003] It is desired to estimate the exposure of persons to billboards which are often displayed in outdoor settings, such as along roads, highways, railways and walkways, as well as in various indoor settings, such as in malls, subway stations, railway stations, bus stations, airports, building lobbies, etc. Moreover, in addition to information concerning the numbers of persons exposed to such billboards, information concerning the days and times such exposure takes place and information concerning the particular individuals so ex...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

One such disadvantage is that the technique is limited to outdoor use only due to the drastic weakening of GPS signals caused by building structures and the like.

As such, the exposure to billboards displayed in indoor settings, such as in malls, subway stations, railway stations, bus stations, airports, building lobbies, etc., cannot be accurately measured using this proposed system.

Another disadvantage is that the proposed GPS-based system tracks only vehicles rather than individual people.

Not only does the system not allow demographic information about the persons in the vehicle to be collected, but it does not even allow the number of persons in the vehicle to be ascertained.

Still another disadvantage is that GPS systems may be considered intrusive, in that they track the movement of people no matter where they go.

This proposed technique, however, also suffers from a number of disadvantages.

One disadvantage is that when numerous billboards are located in close proximity to one another, as is often the case in indoor settings or in high traffic outdoor settings, the signals broadcast by the transmitters associated with these billboards may conflict with one another such that the portable receiving devices cannot correctly identify at least some of the broadcast signals.

As such, the estimates of exposure to at least some of the billboards may be grossly inaccurate.

While techniques are available to provide a means for distinguishing among the various broadcast signals, these techniques add substantial complexity to the portable receiving devices.

Since these are not mass market devices, their unit cost is substantially increased as a result.

Another disadvantage of the proposed technique relates to the fact that the data collected by the portable receivers must be subsequently downloaded by the survey participants, e.g., via a telephone line or computer link, for processing by a processing facility.

This adds a further level of complexity to the system and thus still further expense.

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