OF THE MANY INTELLECTUAL PROPERTIES that have attracted Spark Capital and a group of potential strategic partners to fledgling ratings firm erinMedia one is a patent for a new technology that has the potential for transforming not just media audience measurement, but the integration of media exposure and product usage data that some have long described as the "Holy Grail" of marketing and media research. The patent, which is still pending in the U.S. and key international markets, is the heart of a sophisticated TV remote control that would enable marketers and agencies to track what people were doing with their TV sets, as well as other media and, perhaps most importantly, what consumer products they buy.
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But a glance at the formidable patent filing, nearly 47,000 words in all, offers a picture of a device that could do just about anything a marketer, an agency or a media company might want to know about a subscriber who chose to interact with it. [ MORE ]
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