Abstract: A system for monitoring and reporting the viewing of television programs on a television receiver includes an RF probe which is positioned on the exterior of the receiver housing in close proximity to the intermediate frequency amplifier of the receiver to pick up the intermediate frequency signal therein. A demodulator circuit derives a composite video signal from the intermediate frequency signal. A closed captioning chip and decoder derive channel and/or program information from line 21 of the composite signal, which information is periodically stored in a memory with associated time, date and viewer ID information. The stored viewing information is periodically transmitted by modem to a central monitoring location for analysis. In an alternative embodiment the viewing information is transferred to a removable memory card which is mailed to the central monitoring location.

Abstract: A television receiver is described for receiving and displaying to a viewer a program content rated television program transmission which includes a data signal. The receiver includes a circuit for separating the data signal from the television program signal. The rating derivation circuit derives the program rating from the data signal. A selection circuit is used to store program rating viewing authorizations for viewers. Means are provided to compare the derived program rating with the stored viewing authorization and to generate a blanking control signal. A monitoring circuit monitors the integrity of at least a portion of the data signal, calculates an error rate for the data signal and generates a rating error default control signal when the error exceeds a predetermined threshold. A no code detection circuit generates a no code default control signal when the data signal is not received within a predetermined period of time.