Monitoring system for recording device

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT A television audience measurement system 10 of the sort taught by Thomas et al.
in U.
S.
Pat.
No.
5,481,294 is depicted schematically in FIG.
1.
Programs transmitted from a plurality of program transmitters 12 (which are depicted in the drawing as over-the-air transmitters, but which may include any transmitter of program signals such as CATV, direct satellite broadcast, and/or the like) are received at a statistically selected household 14.
The same program signals from the same program transmitters 12 are also received by a local monitoring site 16.
Generally, although not necessarily, the local monitoring site 16 of the television audience measurement system 10 is located in a corresponding regional market being measured, and serves a plurality of statistically selected households, such as the statistically selected household 14, which are located within that regional market.
All such statistically selected households communicate their data to a central site 18.
Also, there may be a plurality of regional markets each having a corresponding local monitoring site 16 and each local monitoring site 16 serving a plurality of corresponding statistically selected households 14.
All such statistically selected households and all such local monitoring sites communicate their data to the central site 18.
Data, which may comprise identifying ancillary codes transmitted with the programs transmitted by the program transmitters 12, or which may comprise program signatures characteristic of such programs, are extracted from the received transmitted programs by both the statistically selected household 14 and the local monitoring site 16, and the extracted data are sent from both the statistically selected household 14 and the local monitoring site 16 to the central site 18.
The central site 18 compiles television audience reports based upon this data from the statistically selected household 14 and the local monitoring site 16 as well as from all other statistically selected households located within the receiving area of the local monitoring site 16, from all other statistically selected households located within the receiving areas of all other corresponding local monitoring sites, and from all other local monitoring sites