Audience Meter Power Management via Device State Feedback
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing audience measurement systems consume unnecessary power when media presentation devices are inactive and often fault entire monitoring periods due to power outages, leading to inefficient energy use and invalid data.
Innovation Solution
Implementing power management methods that determine the activation state of media presentation devices to control the audience measurement meter's operation, allowing it to sleep when inactive and validate data integrity during power outages by assessing device activity.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If the audience measurement meter operates continuously to ensure accurate monitoring, then measurement accuracy is improved, but power consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
The meter alternates between active measurement periods and sleep periods, using periodic wake-up signals to activate the meter only when media content is being presented. This maintains measurement accuracy during active periods while reducing power consumption during inactive periods.
Solution Approach 2:
The system uses feedback from the media presentation device state (active/inactive) to control meter activation. When the media device is inactive, the meter enters sleep mode; when active, the meter wakes up to measure, creating a feedback loop that optimizes power usage based on actual measurement needs.
2Loss of energy
If the meter enters sleep mode to reduce power consumption, then energy efficiency is improved, but measurement data may be lost during transitions
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by saving measurement data to non-volatile memory before entering sleep mode and verifying data integrity upon wake-up. This ensures that no measurement data is lost during transitions between active and sleep states.
Solution Approach 2:
The system prepares for potential power interruptions by implementing data validation and error checking mechanisms before and during sleep transitions. This cushioning approach prevents data corruption and ensures reliability even when the meter wakes from sleep mode.
3Manufacturing precision
If the entire monitoring period is faulted due to any power outage, then data quality control is improved, but useful measurement data is discarded
Solution Approach 1:
The monitoring period is segmented into multiple measurement intervals, each independently validated. If a power outage occurs during one interval, only that specific segment is marked as faulty while other segments remain valid. This prevents discarding entire monitoring periods when only partial data is affected.
Solution Approach 2:
The system changes the validation parameter from binary (entire period valid/invalid) to granular (individual interval validity). By tracking power outage timing and comparing it with measurement intervals, the system can selectively validate or invalidate specific time segments, preserving useful data while maintaining quality control.
Data Source
AI summary
Power management methods, apparatus and articles of manufacture for audience measurement meters are disclosed. Example methods disclosed herein include obtaining presentation device state data representing an activation state of a media presentation device that is to present received media and is monitored by an audience measurement meter, the presentation device state data including time information. Such disclosed example methods also include determining whether to fault audience measurement data reported by the audience measurement meter based on the presentation device state data and power outage information determined from the audience measurement data.