Passive data collection system for market research data
US5490060A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Nov 13, 1990 |
| Grant date | Feb 6, 1996 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Nov 13, 2010 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
- CPC primaryH04L12/423
- WIPO fieldIT methods for management
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
A passive data monitor and collection apparatus, and associated method, for obtaining market research data from an automated checkout system of a retail establishment. The apparatus positively monitors all the communications on a communications network between a plurality of point-of-sale terminals in a store and the store controller controlling the terminals. The store communications are converted from a phase encoded protocol into a standard RS 232 protocol which is then assembled into SDLC frames by a processor. The SDLC frames are separated on the basis of a control field format before being parsed by terminal addresses to form separate transactions on a list. The transaction list is produced by a real time monitor routine which builds the list from the asynchronous frames received from each of the store loops. The transactions on the list are handled in the background of the processing by a parsing routine which assembles the transactions into data files relating to the purchases by panelists and data files relating to the purchases by all customers. In a preferred embodiment, a host processor polls monitoring apparatus at a multiplicity of stores and has transferred to it the…
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.