Patent ID: 9241187
Filing Date: 2016-01-19
CPC Classification: H04N

Claim Text:
1. A method, comprising: determining, by a microprocessor executable network discovery module, whether one or more computational devices are in communication, via a local area network, with an intelligent television, the intelligent television being associated with a set of viewers, the determining comprising generating a network topology of the one or more computational devices in communication, via a local area network, with the intelligent television, the network topology comprising one or more of a listing of the type of the one or more computational devices, status of the one or more computational devices, viewer supplied credential for the one or more computational devices, estimated physical location of the one or more computational devices, and IP address of the one or more computational devices, wherein the network topology is generated from network topology information maintained by the one or more computational devices; collecting, by a microprocessor executable viewer information collection module associated with the intelligent television, a set-top box, and/or set meter, viewer information regarding content from a content distributor viewed by the set of viewers using the intelligent television and viewed by the set of viewers using the one or more computational devices in communication, via a local area network, with the intelligent television, set-top box, and/or set meter, one or more Internet-capable computational devices providing content to the set of viewers, comprising one or more of a cellular phone, tablet computer, laptop, personal computer, personal digital assistant, and e-reader; tagging, by a microprocessor executable tagging module associated with the intelligent television, a set-top box, and/or set meter, the collected viewer information, wherein tags used in tagging one or more of characterize, summarize and refer to a type and/or content of the collected viewer information associated with an assigned tag; applying, by a microprocessor executable filtration module associated with the intelligent television, a set-top box, and/or set meter, one or more rule sets to the collected viewer information, using one or more assigned tags, to determine which of the collected viewer information is to be transmitted; and transmitting, from a household associated with the intelligent television and over an untrusted network, the filtered collected viewer information to a remote destination for determining a rating based, at least in part, on the filtered collected viewer information, wherein the rating is determined by an audience measurement algorithm and wherein the viewer information collection module determines whether a selected one of the one or more Internet-capable computational devices is part of the local area network of the set of viewers and applies the following rules: (i) when the selected one of the one or more Internet-capable computational devices is part of the local area network as determined by the network topology, the viewer information collection module collects viewer information from the one or more Internet-capable computational devices and (ii) when the selected one of the one or more Internet-capable computational devices is not part of the local area network as determined by the network topology, the viewer information collection module does not collect viewer information from the one or more Internet-capable computational devices.