SUBSCRIBER CHARACTERIZATION AND ADVERTISEMENT MONITORING SYSTEM

摘要

A subscriber characterization and advertisement monitoring system is presented in which subscriber viewing habits are monitored to determine demographic profiles. These profiles can be utilized for the matching of advertisements to subscribers based on their viewing habits and estimated demographics and product interests. The system can be run locally in a television set-top (1808) or can be run in client server mode where channel selections are transmitted from the residence (1800) to a centralized switching location server (1840) such as a telephone office or Internet Service Provider. In client-server mode the channel selections are monitored at the centralized location (1840) which also performs the subscriber characterization. The system also provides the ability to monitor if advertisements were viewed and for what duration.