Appeal No. 2002-1380
Application No. 08/786,270 Page 8
identification of the local source itself. Thus, Thomas does not
disclose how to determine whether the program was broadcast or
played from a tape. It is further argued,(id.) that because the
devices from which signatures are extracted and compared are at
different sites, these devices are not local to one another.
We find that Thomas is directed to an audience measurement
system which identifies the programs or stations of televisions
or radios that are watched or listened to by an audience (page
1). In the summary of the invention, Thomas states (page 9) that
the invention collects data representative of selected programs
rather than of tuned stations, including which programs were
selected for viewing, which households viewed the program, and
what time the program was viewed. A central office automatically
determines a program name for each monitored, encoded program.
The system identifies a program which is broadcast from a signal
source and to which a household is tuned. A reference receiver
receives the broadcast at a reference site. A program signature
extractor is coupled to the reference receiver to extract and
store a reference from the program. The reference signature is
compared to the program signature to create a program identifying
viewing record corresponding to the program. A household code
reader reads an ancillary code of the program and stores the
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