AUDIENCE SURVEY SYSTEM, AND SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR COMPRESSING AND CORRELATING AUDIO SIGNALS

摘要

A system and method are disclosed for performing audience surveys of broadca st audio from radio and television (1). A small body-worn portable collection unit (4) samples the audio environment of the survey member (5) and stores highly compressed features of the audio programming. A central computer (7) simultaneously collects the autio outputs from a number of radio and television receivers (6) representing the possible selection that a survey member may choose. On a regular schedule the central computer (7) interrogat es the portable units (4) used in the survey and transfers the captured audio feature samples. The central computer (7) then applies a feature pattern recognition technique to identify which radio or television station the surv ey member (5) was listening to at various times of day. This information is the n used to estimate the popularity of the various broadcast stations.