Audience Meter Self-Diagnosis via Acoustic Test Patterns
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Current audience measurement systems face challenges in efficiently enlisting and retaining participants, as well as accurately measuring out-of-home television viewing, due to intrusive data collection methods and high costs associated with in-home installation and maintenance.
Innovation Solution
The implementation of a portable meter with performance monitoring circuitry that evaluates the meter's performance by emitting an audio test pattern and detecting frequency responses, allowing for self-diagnosis of faults and reduced need for in-home visits.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If traditional in-home meter installation and maintenance methods are used, then data collection accuracy is maintained, but operational costs and participant burden increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The meter system performs self-diagnosis by emitting test audio signals and analyzing its own frequency responses to detect faults automatically, eliminating the need for manual field visits to check meter status and reducing operational costs while maintaining data reliability
Solution Approach 2:
The system conducts preliminary fault detection by comparing current frequency responses against stored baseline responses before data collection issues arise, enabling proactive identification and reporting of malfunctioning meters to prevent compromised data collection
2Reliability
If frequent in-home visits are conducted for meter maintenance, then meter performance is ensured, but participant burden and operational costs increase
Solution Approach 1:
The meter autonomously monitors its own performance by generating test signals and analyzing frequency responses, eliminating the need for frequent field technician visits and reducing participant burden while ensuring continuous meter performance through automated self-diagnosis
3Difficulty of detecting and measuring
If manual meter diagnostics are used, then fault detection is possible, but time and resources are consumed
Solution Approach 1:
The meter system automatically performs diagnostics by emitting test audio signals, capturing frequency responses, comparing them against baselines, and generating fault reports without human intervention, reducing diagnosis time from manual field visits to automated instant analysis
Solution Approach 2:
The system replaces manual mechanical diagnosis procedures with automated acoustic signal generation and electronic frequency response analysis, substituting human technician time with automated computational methods to detect faults more efficiently
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This solution enhances the efficiency and accuracy of audience measurement by reducing participant burden, minimizing in-home installations, and proactively identifying malfunctioning meters, thereby lowering operational costs and improving data reliability.
Implementation Method 1
causes the audio input device to collect data from the environment during emission of the audio signal
Data Source
AI summary
Methods, apparatus, systems, and articles of manufacture are disclosed to determine performance of audience measurement meters. An example apparatus disclosed herein is to cause an audio output device of a meter to emit an audio signal into an environment, the audio signal based on a test pattern including a first plurality of watermarks and cause an audio input device of the meter to collect data from the environment during emission of the audio signal. Additionally, the example apparatus is to determine whether a second plurality of watermarks decoded from the data match the first plurality of watermarks and based on a difference between the first plurality of watermarks and the second plurality of watermarks indicative of a fault, cause an alert to be transmitted to a device associated with an audience measurement company that issued the meter.