Arthur Felix Allison

US Patent:

49125524, Mar 27, 1990

Filed:

Apr 19, 1988

Appl. No.:

7/183113

Inventors:

Arthur W. Allison - Brinklow MD
Joseph A. Damoci - Beltsville MD
William H. Forlines - Gaithersburg MD
Carl B. Gipson - Laurel MD
Matthew F. Kern - Laurel MD
David M. Myers - Martinsburg WV

Assignee:

Control Data Corporation - Minneapolis MN

International Classification:

H04H 900

US Classification:

358 84

Abstract:

A system is disclosed which may be used for collecting television channel tuning data, household purchase data, VCR channel usage data and the like; on site at a plurality of preselected households, wherein the system concentrates and transmits the collected data to a central site in a fault tolerant manner, transparent to the occupants of the household. The novel system features a hub and spoke architecture for effecting communications between the central site and each household (remote site). The hub and spoke architecture at each remote site comprises a hub unit, and a set of spoke meters. The hub unit is adapted to be coupled, in a variety of ways, to a set of metering devices, one or more of which is coupled to one or more television receivers and/or cable television converters. Not all of the metering devices need be coupled to the television receiver or cable converter, e. g. , stand alone purchase meters and wands may be coupled to the hub.