Patent application number | Description | Published |
20090271956 | FREE END BAND - A pre-cut and preformed free end band and seal of a predetermined length, and method of making and using the same is disclosed. The band is preformed with a substantially closed loop of band material to capture a seal to provide a preassembled band and seal wherein the seal is generally inhibited from being dislodged during packing, shipment, handling and installation. The band and seal are also formed in a manner to facilitate relative positioning of the band and seal as well as placement of a crimping tool relative to the band and seal for optimized crimping of the band and seal. | 11-05-2009 |
20100326219 | Band Clamp With Embedded Electronics - A band and buckle for wrapping around and/or securing one or more objects is provided. Specifically, the band is adapted to receive external objects and maintain the received external objects within the band. The external objects may include electronic devices, sensors, Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) devices or other similar objects. These objects may be used for identifying the objects that are secured by the band, determining information about the band or its surrounding, and other various functions. | 12-30-2010 |
20110126381 | Cable Tie - A cable tie having a head for receiving a tail for binding various objects is provided wherein a head of an integral buckle is tilted so that the tail portion is more easily received. By employing a tilted head, of preferably 30 degrees, a 15-20% increase in performance over similar cables ties of the prior art has been achieve. In addition, a cable tie is provided that includes a bulged or coined portion. A leading edge of the band that is associated with the buckle also includes a bulged or coined portion. The bulged portions are preferably created by a coining process and facilitate binding mechanically the band to the buckle. In addition, a cable tie is provided wherein a head of the integral buckle is interconnected to the band via angled side walls. The angled side walls increase an opening in the buckle that receives the band such that during tensioning less energy is needed to tension the cable tie around a bundle of cables, for example. | 06-02-2011 |
Patent application number | Description | Published |
20090290756 | METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR DETECTING A COMPOSITION OF AN AUDIENCE OF AN INFORMATION PRESENTING DEVICE - Methods and apparatus for detecting a composition of an audience of an information presenting device are disclosed. A disclosed example method includes: capturing at least one image of the audience; determining a number of people within the at least one image; prompting the audience to identify its members if a change in the number of people is detected based on the number of people determined to be within the at least one image; and if a number of members identified by the audience is different from the determined number of people after a predetermined number of prompts of the audience, adjusting a value to avoid excessive prompting of the audience. | 11-26-2009 |
20100077420 | METHODS AND APPARATUS TO DETECT CARRYING OF A PORTABLE AUDIENCE MEASUREMENT DEVICE - Methods and apparatus to detect carrying of a portable audience measurement device are disclosed herein. An example portable audience measurement device includes a housing; a media detector in the housing to collect media exposure data; an attachment mechanism coupled to the housing to secure the housing to a person; and a sensor to detect a status of the attachment mechanism to enable determination of whether the device is being carried by the person. | 03-25-2010 |
20100083299 | Methods and Apparatus for Determining Whether a Media Presentation Device is in an On State or an Off State - Methods and apparatus for determining whether a media presentation device is in an on state or an off state are disclosed. A disclosed example method comprises determining first and second characteristics of a signature associated with a signal representative of media content presented via a media presentation device, evaluating the first and second characteristics to determine first and second fuzzy contribution values representing, respectively, degrees with which the first and second characteristics correspond to the media presentation device being in at least one of an on state or an off state, determining a third fuzzy contribution value based on a number of the first and second contribution values indicating the media presentation device is in one of the on or off states, and combining the first, second and third fuzzy contribution values for use in determining whether the media presentation device is in the on state or the off state. | 04-01-2010 |
20100102981 | METHODS AND APPARATUS TO DETECT CARRYING OF A PORTABLE AUDIENCE MEASUREMENT DEVICE - Methods and apparatus to detect carrying of a portable audience measurement device are disclosed herein. An example portable audience measurement device includes a housing; a media detector in the housing to collect media exposure data; a first status sensor to detect a first distance between the housing and an object at a first time, wherein the first status sensor is to detect a second distance between the housing and the object at a second time; and a distance comparator to generate a first signal indicative of a relationship between the first distance and the second distance to enable determination of whether the device is being carried by a person. | 04-29-2010 |
20110264455 | METHODS, APPARATUS AND ARTICLES OF MANUFACTURE TO PERFORM AUDIO WATERMARK DECODING - Example methods, apparatus and articles of manufacture to perform audio watermark decoding are disclosed. A disclosed example method includes receiving an audio signal including an audience measurement code embedded therein using a first plurality of frequency components, sampling the audio signal, transforming the sampled audio signal into a first frequency domain representation, determining whether the code is detectable in the first plurality of frequency components of the first frequency domain representation, and when the code is not detected in the first plurality of frequency components, examining a second plurality of frequency components of a second frequency domain representation to determine whether the code is detected, the second plurality of frequency components being offset from the first plurality of frequency components by a first offset, the first offset corresponding to a sampling frequency mismatch. | 10-27-2011 |
20120011528 | METHODS AND APPARATUS TO DETECT CARRYING OF A PORTABLE AUDIENCE MEASUREMENT DEVICE - Methods and apparatus to detect carrying of a portable audience measurement device are disclosed herein. An example portable audience measurement device includes a media detector carried by a housing to collect media exposure data; a distance comparator to compare a first distance to an object at a first time and a second distance to the object at a second time; and a compliance detector to validate the media exposure data based on the comparison of the distance comparator. | 01-12-2012 |
20120203731 | Methods and Apparatus for Determining Whether a Media Presentation Device is in an On State or an Off State - Methods and apparatus for determining whether a media presentation device is in an on state or an off state are disclosed. A disclosed example method comprises determining first and second characteristics of a signature associated with a signal representative of media content presented via a media presentation device, evaluating the first and second characteristics to determine first and second fuzzy contribution values representing, respectively, degrees with which the first and second characteristics correspond to the media presentation device being in at least one of an on state or an off state, determining a third fuzzy contribution value based on a number of the first and second contribution values indicating the media presentation device is in one of the on or off states, and combining the first, second and third fuzzy contribution values for use in determining whether the media presentation device is in the on state or the off state. | 08-09-2012 |
20120213410 | METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR DETECTING A COMPOSITION OF AN AUDIENCE OF AN INFORMATION PRESENTING DEVICE - Methods and apparatus for detecting a composition of an audience of an information presenting device are disclosed. A disclosed example method includes: capturing at least one image of the audience; determining a number of people within the at least one image; prompting the audience to identify its members if a change in the number of people is detected based on the number of people determined to be within the at least one image; and if a number of members identified by the audience is different from the determined number of people after a predetermined number of prompts of the audience, adjusting a value to avoid excessive prompting of the audience. | 08-23-2012 |
20140105462 | METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR DETECTING A COMPOSITION OF AN AUDIENCE OF AN INFORMATION PRESENTING DEVICE - Methods and apparatus for detecting a composition of an audience of an information presenting device are disclosed. A disclosed example method includes maintaining a first count of a number of people detected in an environment based on image data representative of the environment; when the image data is indicative of a change in the number of people detected in the environment, presenting a request for identity information; determining if the people were compliant in providing the identity information based on a difference between the number of people appearing in the image data and a second number of received identity responses; and when the people were non-compliant in providing the identity information, increasing a second count maintained for the environment indicative of unidentified people in the room. | 04-17-2014 |
20140114669 | METHODS, APPARATUS AND ARTICLES OF MANUFACTURE TO PERFORM AUDIO WATERMARK DECODING - Example methods, apparatus and articles of manufacture to perform audio watermark decoding are disclosed. A disclosed example method includes receiving an audio signal including an audience measurement code embedded therein using a first plurality of frequency components, sampling the audio signal, transforming the sampled audio signal into a first frequency domain representation, determining whether the code is detectable in the first plurality of frequency components of the first frequency domain representation, and when the code is not detected in the first plurality of frequency components, examining a second plurality of frequency components of a second frequency domain representation to determine whether the code is detected, the second plurality of frequency components being offset from the first plurality of frequency components by a first offset, the first offset corresponding to a sampling frequency mismatch. | 04-24-2014 |
20140344841 | Methods and Apparatus to Detect Carrying of a Portable Audience Measurement Device - Methods and apparatus to detect carrying of a portable audience measurement device are disclosed herein. An example portable audience measurement device including a housing; a media detector in the housing to collect media exposure data; a hinge having an arm to rotate in response to an applied, the arm to secure the housing to an object associated with a person; a rotation sensor to detect a magnitude of rotation of the arm relative to the housing; and a detector to compare the magnitude of rotation of the arm to a threshold angle to determine whether the device is being carried by the person. | 11-20-2014 |