FORM 2
THE PATENTS ACT, 1970
(39 of 1970)
&
THE PATENT RULES, 2003
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION
(See Section 10 and Rule 13)
Title of invention:
A SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR INSTANT RATING OF TELEVISION BROADCSAT
Applicant:
TATA Consultancy Services Limited
A company Incorporated in India under The Companies Act, 1956
Having address:
Nirmal Building, 9th Floor,
Nariman Point, Mumbai 400021,
Maharashtra, India

The following specification particularly describes the invention and the manner in which it is to be performed.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to the field of telecommunications and infotainment, Particularly, the present invention relates to the technical domain of providing instant rating of a television broadcast. More particularly, the invention relates to a system and method that enables instant rating of television broadcast with internet as the medium of information flow between various sensor screens and viewers.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
For decades, televisions are widely used as telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving information in the form of audio and video signals. In the recent past, production of programmes for broadcasting and television viewership has been increased by several quanta. Hence, accurate and timely identification highly rated television broadcasts is one of the important concerns for any television channel or broadcast company. To further enhance the viewership, it is very much required to have an instant television broadcast rating mechanism in order to gain competitive advantage over other television channels being broadcast to the same target viewer pool.
Various attempts have been made to enable instant rating of television broadcast. The existing systems and methods are based on automated reviews for broadcast media content and rely on expensive platforms only accessible to the selected broadcasters or viewers. The inaccessibility of the "real-time sharing" of the said viewership data is another problem which needs to be addressed.
The increasing need of social interaction using communication technologies, specifically television broadcast is leading the development of 'Social Television'. The technology affirms social interaction in various contexts such as watching television, television broadcast content or television associated social behavior. The current 'Social Television' solutions are applicable only to over the top (OTT) device content and real-time review of television broadcast content is not possible.
Hence, in order to solve the existing technical problem of accurate, instant rating of the television broadcast there is a need for a system and method based on internet that enable inexpensive flow of information between all sensor screens and viewers for providing real time review of the broadcast. Some of the systems and methodologies for rating television broadcast known to us are given below:

CN101146206 to Xie et a), teaches about a statistical method and a device for audience rating of a TV program. The patent discusses about a method and the device which are based on the existing TV video play equipment with addition of a TV station logo identification model which is connected with a server.
US20070162923 by Motta et al. teaches about a system and a method of television audience measurements in real time through analysis of the content transmitted by the television broadcasting stations. The problem addressed particularly relates to a medium of detection of change of tuning state of a television set, a means of generation of subscriptions that generates subscriptions containing information on the content emitted by the television set obtained from the detection of change in the tuning state of the television set.
Some of the lacunae associated with the prior art are as follows;
Instant Rating: The above mentioned prior arts fail to address technical problem of enabling instant rating of television broadcast d ue to their limited scope. The channel measurement solutions as disclosed in the prior arts are purely used for TRP analytics and they do not have any integration with applications such as television broadcast rating and statistical analysis of a program along with viewer's review comments.
Platform Technology: The platform technologies currently being used for measuring TV audience do not have the software architecture that is capable of integrating with the cloud computing architecture and providing real-time applications to the TV and to the second sensor screens. Also, the solutions in the prior art do not provide real-time measurement of the TV audience.
Information Collection: The existing prior arts are lacking in collection of television (TV) broadcasting information, viewership analysis, audience behavior analysis, advertisement, and related other analysis for broadcasting by plurality of broadcasting service provider and channels.
Real Time Review: The prior arts also fail to address the real time review of the broadcasted program. The current channel analytic reports are sent on daily, weekly, monthly or quarterly basis are not in real time. Real time viewership reports can give an indication of current popularity of channels to all the viewers.

Integration with other Devices: In the prior art, there is no integration of various applications into the channel rating mechanism mentioned which could enable the viewer's ratings to be displayed on viewer's personal gadgets along with TV.
Social Network: None of the prior arts mention about the social network of like minded persons while watching TV across the globe.
Thus, in the light of the above mentioned background art and the lacunae associated with them, it is evident that, there is a need for a solution that can provide a system and method for monitoring audience behavior using TV channel information which can allow end viewers to see the viewership patterns of TV channels in real time, to rate a program or a TV channel in real time, to view the rating of any program or TV channel in real time, to view what TV channel his or her peer are watching. There is also a need to have a solution that can group such results based on age-group, location, gender or professional/educational criterions and provide statistical analysis of a program along with viewer's review comments.
Hence, due to the drawbacks of the conventional approaches there remains a need for a new solution that can provide a system and method for instant rating of television broadcast.
OBJECTIVES OF THE INVENTION
In accordance with the present invention, the primary objective is to enable instant rating of television broadcast.
It is another objective of the present invention to provide a system and method for instant rating of television broadcast with internet as the medium of information flow between all sensor screens and viewers.
It is another objective of the present invention to provide a system and method where the television audience measurement data can be presented to the end viewer as a form of channel/event rating, statistical analysis of a program along with viewer's review comments and addition of the said information to the present day electronic program guide.
It is another objective of the present invention to provide a system and method that can perform viewer classification based viewership display in real time.

It is another objective of the present invention to provide a system and method to enter reviews/comments on a television show in real time.
it is another objective of the present invention to provide a system and method to view what viewer's peer are watching and their rating of the program in real time.
It is another objective of the present invention to provide a system and method that can group such results based on age-group, location, gender or professional/educational criterions, and form a social network of like minded persons on the fly white watching a particular television program at any given point of time.
It is another objective of the present invention to provide a system and method for instant rating of television broadcast, wherein the viewer program may reside on the sensing device which is the first screen as well as on the second screen which is used as a companion viewing medium like Smartphones, tablets and laptops.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Before the present methods, systems, and hardware enablement are described, it is to be understood that this invention in not limited to the particular systems, and methodologies described, as there can be multiple possible embodiments of the present invention which are not expressly illustrated in the present disclosure. It is also to be understood that the terminology used in the description is for the purpose of describing the particular versions or embodiments only, and is not intended to limit the scope of the present invention which will be limited only by the appended claims.
The present invention provides a system and method for instant rating of television broadcast.
In an embodiment of the invention a system and method is provided for instant rating of television broadcast with internet as the medium of information flow between all sensor screens and viewers. In the present invention the television audience measurement data can be presented to the end viewer as a form of channel/event rating, statistical analysis of a program along with viewer's review comments and addition of the said information to the present day electronic program guide. A viewer classification based viewership can be displayed display in real time. According to the present invention a viewer can enter reviews/comments on a television show in real time. A viewer can also view what viewer's peer are watching and their rating of the program in real time. The present invention can also group such results based on age-group, location,

gender or professional/educational criterions, and form a social network of like minded persons on the fly while watching a particular television program at any given point of time. The viewer program may reside on the sensing device which is the first screen as well as on the second screen which is used as a companion viewing medium like Smartphones, tablets and laptops.
In an embodiment of the invention, the television transmission is digital transmission such as cable transmission, satellite transmission or terrestrial transmission.
fn an alternative embodiment of the invention, the television transmission is analog transmission. When the television transmission is analog, HIP boxes/ Smart television may detect logos of channels being viewed when channel is changed by the viewer and subsequently transmits the detected channel id, time stamp (current timing information), subscriber id and /or IP address of the box to an internet hosted analytics server using secure channels. Further, the geographic location is obtained using IP address and the viewer is prompted to enter his/their personal details and reviews/comments on the show. The analytic server analyzes the data "In stream" and creates interactive web view for the statistical data and the analysed data from analytic server is available to HIP box/Smart TV viewer using an internet connection. The rating data is overlaid on top of TV video provide the TV viewer with real-time TV channel viewership rating
The above said system and method are preferably for instant rating of television broadcast but also can be used for many other applications.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS
The foregoing summary, as well as the following detailed description of preferred embodiments, are better understood when read in conjunction with the appended drawings. For the purpose of illustrating the invention, there is shown in the drawings exemplary constructions of the invention; however, the invention is not limited to the specific methods and system disclosed. In the drawings:
Figure 1 Illustrate the flow chart of the method for instant rating of television broadcast.
Figure 2 illustrates the deployment of the system for instant rating of television broadcast.
Figure 3 illustrates the system architecture for sending data from the set top box to the server
Figure 4 illustrates a deployment diagram of the measurement system,

Figure 5 illustrates a block diagram of the measurement system. DETAIL DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Some embodiments of this invention, illustrating all its features, will now be discussed in detail.
The words "comprising," "having," "containing," and "including," and other forms thereof, are intended to be equivalent in meaning and be open ended in that an item or items following any one of these words is not meant to be an exhaustive listing of such item or items, or meant to be limited to only the listed item or items.
It must also be noted that as used herein and in the appended claims, the singular forms "a," "an," and "the" include plural references unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. Although any systems and methods similar or equivalent to those described herein can be used in the practice or testing of embodiments of the present invention, the preferred, systems and methods are now described.
The disclosed embodiments are merely exemplary of the invention, which may be embodied in various forms.
The present invention enables a system and method for instant rating of television broadcast with internet as the medium of information flow between all sensor screens and viewers.
The present invention provides a method for instant rating of television broadcast, the said method characterized by using internet as the medium of information flow between sensors screen and viewers, wherein the rating of the television broadcast is instantly generated by the processor implemented steps of:
a. receiving input signals from the external sources of broadcast using set top box
(STB) and transmitting an output signal to the sensor screen;
b. receiving viewer's input in real time using the sensor screen and transmitting the an
output to an analytics and data stream management server;
c. receiving the television broadcast information, time stamp, viewer's identification and
Internet protocol address by an analytics and data stream management server;
d. analyzing the received information and further processing the said information to
generate television broadcast rating; and

e. transmitting and displaying the generated television broadcast rating from the analytics and data stream management server to the sensor screen or web based clients.
The present invention provides a system for instant rating of television broadcast, the said system characterized in using internet as the medium of information flow between sensors screen and viewers, wherein the said system is comprised of:
a. set top box (STB) receiving input signals from the external sources of broadcast
and transmitting an output signal to the sensor screen;
b. sensor screen receiving viewer's input in real time, transmitting the an output to
an analytics and data stream management server and further displaying the
generated television broadcast rating; and
c. analytics and data stream management server receiving the television broadcast
information, time stamp, viewer's identification and internet protocol address,
analyzing the received information and further processing the said information to
generate television broadcast rating and transmitting the generated television
broadcast rating to the sensor screen or web based clients.
The invention provides a novel way of getting social reviews of television program in real-time. The invention realizes the goals of social television into broadcast television content in a service provider agnostic manner. The different viewers viewing the same content using different service providers and different technologies can still use the application to come to a common crowd-sourcing platform.
Referring to Figure 1 is the flow chart of the method for instant rating of television broadcast.
The process starts at the step 1002, input signals are received from the external sources of broadcast using set top box (STB) and transmitting an output signal to the sensor screen. At the step 1004, viewer's input is received in real time using the sensor screen and transmitting the output to an analytics and data stream management server. At the step 1006, the television broadcast information, time stamp (current timing information), viewer's identification and internet protocol address are received by an analytics and data stream management server. At the step 1008, the received information is analyzed and further processing the said information to generate television broadcast rating. At the step 1010, the generated television broadcast rating is transmitted from the analytics and data stream management server to the sensor screen and

web based clients. The process ends at the step 1012, the transmitted television broadcast rating is displayed using the sensor screen.
Referring to Figure 2 is the deployment of the system for instant rating of television broadcast.
In a specific embodiment of the invention, wherein the television transmission is digital transmission, a set top box (STB) (110) connects a television (102) and an external source of signal, turning the signal into content which is then displayed on the sensor screen such as television (102) screen or user interface or any other display device. The other display devices may be selected from the group consisting of tablet personal computer (112) and Smartphone (114).
The set top box (STB) (110) receives broadcast input signals from a variety of external sources such as cable transmission, satellite transmission or terrestrial transmission and gives an output signal to the television set (102). The set top box (STB) (110) communicates with an analytics and data stream management server (105) using internet (103) as a medium of communication, The analytics and data stream management server (105) is exposed to the internet (103) and it collects the data from all connected set top box (STB) (110). It consists of an analytics server application (203) (shown in Figure 5) that captures, filters, aggregates and stores the message streams from set top box (STB) (110). It has the capability of supporting queries, drill downs, OLAP and statistical analysis. It can also perform Mashups of this data using geographical location information obtained using the IP addresses. It can also combine the message stream data with electronic program guide (EPG) obtained via internet (103). The analytics and data stream management server (105) makes use of a data base management System (106) (shown in Figure 4) to store and access historical data. A web server (204) (shown in Figure 5) serves various web based clients (104) (shown in Figure 4) with the analytics and reports as created by the analytics and data stream management server (105).
In an embodiment the analytics and data stream management server (105) consists of an analytics server application (203) (shown in Figure 5), upon receiving the data from all connected set top box (STB) (110) using internet (103), it analyses the data statistically for providing for instant rating of television broadcast. The television audience measurement data can be presented to the end viewer as a form of channel/event rating, statistical analysis of a program along with viewer's review comments and addition of the said information to the present day electronic program guide. A viewer classification based viewership can be displayed in real time. According to the present invention a viewer can enter reviews/comments on a television show in real time. A viewer can also view what viewer's peer are watching and their rating of the program

in real time. The present invention can also group such results based on age-group, location, gender or professional/educational criterions, and form a social network of like minded persons on the fly while watching a particular television program at any given point of time. While watching a particular broadcast, people who are having similar opinion about the said broadcast, wherein the opinion may include rating, likeliness, suggestions etc, are being recognized as like minded persons after assessing the similarities between their inputs related to the above said television broadcast.
The viewer program may reside on the primary sensor screen such as television (102) as well as on the secondary sensor screen such as tablet personal computer (112) and Smartphone (114). A viewer can communicate with the sensor screen either directly or by way of using support devices such as remote control or key board etc.
Referring to Figure 3 is the system architecture for sending data from the set top box to the server.
The set top box (STB) (110) (shown in the Figure 2) communicates with an analytics and data stream management server (105) (shown in the Figure 2) using internet (103) as a medium of communication.
For the digital transmission, the viewership information, current channel information along with the time stamp (current timing information) can be obtained easily from the metadata transmitted according to different digital television standards like DVB or ATSC. For analog transmission, sophisticated image processing techniques are used to detect the channels in real time based on stored signature of channel logos. The detected information is sent to a backend analytics and data stream management server (105) (shown in the Figure 2), where this data may be used by various applications.
Referring to Figure 4 is a deployment diagram of the measurement system.
In an alternative embodiment of the invention, wherein the television transmission is analog transmission, a HIP Box (101) is the basic sensor used in the invention. The HIP box (101) has the capability to detect the channel ID the viewer is watching based on the displayed channel logo. This capability is based on advanced image processing techniques and pattern recognition. The HIP Box receives AV input signals from a variety of sources such as DTH, Cable and RF tuner boxes and gives an AV out signal to the television set (102).

The analytics and data stream management server (105) is exposed to the Internet (103) and it collects the data from all connected HIP Boxes (101). It consists of an analytics server application (203) that captures, filters, aggregates and stores the message streams from HIP boxes (101). It has the capability of supporting queries, drill downs, OLAP and statistical analysis. It can also perform mashups of this data using geographical location information obtained using the IP addresses. It can also combine the message stream data with electronic program guide (EPG) obtained via internet (103). The analytics and data stream management server (105) makes use of a data base management system (106) to store and access historical data.
A web server (204) serves various web based clients (104) with the analytics and reports as created by the analytics and data stream management server (105).
Referring to Figure 5 is a block diagram of the measurement system.
The HIP box (101) consists of two major modules - the logo detection module (201) and the message creation module (202). The logo detection module (201) can detect the channel being viewed on the television set by matching the screen image with stored logo templates. The message creation module (202) creates message packets consisting of Channel Id, time stamp (current timing information) and other information such as IP addresses / User Id etc. and sends the message using secure channels to the analytics and data stream management server (105).
ADVANTAGES OF THE INVENTION
• Low cost - The solution provided in the current invention does not require any heavy computing platform.
• Ease of deployment - The solution can reside on any computing platform. So effectively the application and logic can reside on the primary sensor screen including television, set top box etc. as well as on the secondary sensor screen like a tablet personal computer, Smartphone or a notebook.
• Real time - Data related to viewership is made available in real time, which allows for real-time viewer reviews and comments.
• Increased accuracy - Existing prior art systems are based on frequency monitoring
t
which are considerably less accurate since frequency of transmission in cable television networks are changed arbitrarily from time to time by local cable television operator.
• Large sample size - Since the service provider is agnostic, a larger sample size of
viewers is expected.

• Support for secondary sensor screen - The fact that viewer can also provide reviews using their smart phones, tablets and PCs in real-time.

WE CLAIM
1. A method for instant rating of television broadcast, the said method characterized by using internet as the medium of information flow between sensors screen and viewers, wherein the rating of the television broadcast is instantly generated by the processor implemented steps of:
a. receiving input signals from the external sources of broadcast using set top box
(STB) and transmitting an output signal to the sensor screen;
b. receiving viewer's input in real time using the sensor screen and transmitting the
an output to an analytics and data stream management server;
c. receiving the television broadcast information, time stamp, viewer's identification
and internet protocol address by an analytics and data stream management
server;
d. analyzing the received information and further processing the said information to
generate television broadcast rating; and
e. transmitting and displaying the generated television broadcast rating from the
analytics and data stream management server to the sensor screen or web
based clients.
2. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the sensor screen is selected from the group of comprising of primary sensor screen such as television screen and secondary sensor screen such as smartphone screen, tablet personal computer screen and laptop screen.
3. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the external source of broadcast is selected from the group comprising of analog and digital broadcast.
4. A method as claimed in claim 3, wherein the said digital broadcast is selected from the group comprising of cable transmission, satellite transmission or terrestrial transmission,
5. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein in addition to the television broadcast rating the statistical analysis of the broadcast, viewer's comments, classification based viewership and analysis of the broadcast being viewed by peer and their respective rating is also displayed.
6. A method as claimed in claim 5, wherein the displayed information is added to the present day electronic program guide.

7. A method as claimed in claim 5, wherein the displayed information is categorized based on age-group, location, gender, professional criterions or educational criterions.
8. A method as claimed in claim 7, wherein the categorized information is utilized to create a social network of the viewers having similar opinion for a particular television broadcast while watching the same at any given point of time.
9. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the viewer program resides in the primary sensor screen such as television screen or secondary sensor screens such as smartphone screen, tablet persona! computer screen or laptop screen.
10. A system for instant rating of television broadcast, the said system characterized in using internet as the medium of information flow between sensors screen and viewers, wherein the said system is comprised of:
a. set top box {STB) receiving input signals from the external sources of broadcast
and transmitting an output signal to the sensor screen;
b. sensor screen receiving viewer's input in real time, transmitting the an output to
an analytics and data stream management server and further displaying the
generated television broadcast rating; and
c. analytics and data stream management server receiving the television broadcast
information, time stamp, viewer's identification and internet protocol address,
analyzing the received information and further processing the said information to
generate television broadcast rating and transmitting the generated television
broadcast rating to the sensor screen or web based clients.
11. A system as claimed in claim 10, wherein the sensor screen is selected from the group of comprising of primary sensor screen such as television screen and secondary sensor screen such as smartphone screen, tablet personal computer screen and laptop screen.
12. A system as claimed in claim 10, wherein the external source of broadcast is selected from the group comprising of analog and digital broadcast.
13. A system as claimed in claim 12, wherein the said digital broadcast is selected from the group comprising of cable transmission, satellite transmission or terrestrial transmission.

14. A system as claimed in claim 10, wherein in addition to the television broadcast rating the statistical analysis of the broadcast, viewer's comments, classification based viewership and analysis of the broadcast being viewed by peer and their respective rating is also displayed.
15. A system as claimed in claim 14, wherein the displayed information is added to the present day electronic program guide.
16. A system as claimed in claim 14, wherein the displayed information is categorized based on age-group, location, gender, professional criterions or educational criterions.
17. A system as claimed in claim 16, wherein the categorized information is utilized to create a social network of the viewers having similar opinion for a particular television broadcast while watching the same at any given point of time.
18. A system as claimed in claim 10, wherein the viewer program resides in the primary sensor screen such as television screen or secondary sensor screens such as smartphone screen, tablet personal computer screen or laptop screen.
19. A system for instant rating of television broadcast, the said system characterized in using internet as the medium of information flow between sensors screen and viewers, wherein the said system is comprised of:
a. means for receiving input signals from the external sources of broadcast using
set top box (STB) and transmitting an output signal to the sensor screen;
b. means for receiving viewer's input in real time using the sensor screen and
transmitting the an output to an analytics and data stream management server;
c. means for receiving the television broadcast information, time stamp, viewer's
identification and internet protocol address by an analytics and data stream
management server;
d. means for analyzing the received information and further processing the said
information to generate television broadcast rating; and
e. means for transmitting and displaying the generated television broadcast rating
from the analytics and data stream management server to the sensor screen or
web based clients.