US2311914A - Apparatus fob - Google Patents

Description

Feb. 23, 1943. J. TIFFIN ETA!- APPARATUS FOR ANALYZING READER OBSERVATION s sheets-sheet 1 Filed July 29, 1940 ||llllllllll Illlflllllllllll LIIII E) h ma w K m m; g m: 2

ATTORNEY}.

Feb. 23, 1943. J. TIFFIN ETAL 2,311,914

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ATTORNEYS.

Feb. 23, 1943. J TlFFlN ETAL 2,311,914

APPARATUS FOR ANALYZING READER OBSERVATION Filed July 29, 1940 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVENTOR5 .fosz /r ];FF//\/ nd BY Jaws: J /fl? Mean/r5,

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Patented F eb. 23, 1943 APPARATUS FOR ANALYZING READER OBSERVATION Joseph Tiflln, West Lafayette, Ind., and James Spler Karslake, Buffalo, N. Y., assignors to Purdue Research Foundation,

West Lafayette,

Ind., a corporation of Indiana Application July 29, 1940, Serial No. 348,148

8 Claims.

It is the object of our invention to evaluate objectively the relative attractiveness, or the power to draw attention and hold it, of different parts of a page or pages, and of different pages,

. such for instance as a magazine page or pages containing reading matter, illustrations, and advertisements; with a particular object of determining and measuring objectively the effectiveness, both absolutely and relatively and particularly with reference to attention-drawing and attention-holding power, of those different pages and page-parts, and especially of advertisements and advertising matter, as for instance of competing advertisements in the same magazine and of different locations on a page of the same advertlsement, and even of the relative attractiveness of the same matter in different magazines.

In doing this, it is our further object to meet the following desiderata:

1. The equipment used may be light and portable.

2. The reading material may be placed at normal reading distance.

3. The reader may have an unrestricted field of view.

4. The reading situation may be a normal one, with the reader in easy and comfortable position and at leisure to leaf freely through the material to be read.

5. The reading material may be continuously identified, frame by frame, on a moving-picture film used in the apparatus and process.

6. The photographic record may be easily interpreted.

7. The interpretation of the photographic record will be sufficiently accurate for differentiation between adjacent areas.

8. The method and the results will be reliable and valid.

Our invention relates to apparatus for attaining these objectives.

We have discovered that by taking a picture of the eyes of a person looking at a page or a pair of pages it is possible to determine from that picture with very considerable accuracy just what part of the page is being looked at; and, carrying the idea further, that by taking a series of pictures of the person's eyes, as with a motionpicture camera (which makes a series of still pictures), as he or she looks at a printed page or series of printed pages, it is possible to determine by analyzing those pictures what amount of time is being devoted to each page and to each part of each page, and how the time spent on each page or page-part compares with the time being spent on other pages or page-parts.

According to our invention, a person sitting in a natural position, with no' apparatus on his (or her) body, is caused to look at a page or pages placed before him, as by leafing through a magazine at will or. under any desired time control, with entire freedom to look at whatever part of the page or pages he wishes and to spend as much or as little time on any page-part, and if desired on any page, as he wishes. While this is being done, a motion picture is taken of his (or her) eyes; and desirably a record is made of the page or pages being examined, conveniently by showing on the same motion picture, as for instance in a picture-section above that occupied by the eyes, enough of the page or pages being looked at to identify it or them. From an analysis of these pictures, the attention-drawing and attention-holding power of the various parts of the page or pair of pages, and of one page or pair of pages as against other pages, may be objectively evaluated both positively and relatively.

The apparatus embodying our invention, and for carrying out our process, may take many different forms, and the accompanying drawings show, by way of example, one convenient form which that apparatus may take. In those drawings, Fig. 1 is a perspective view of that illustrative apparatus, with a girl in position for taking the test; Fig. 2 is a diagrammatic vertical section, transverse to the plane of the pages of the magazine being looked at, of the major parts of the apparatus shown in Fig. l, with a side view of a portion of the face of the girl undergoing the test; Fig. 3 is a set of pictures of the eyes of the girl, in the different positions her eyes take when looking at different portions of the page before her, with the different eye pictures arranged in the view to correspond to the portions of the pages being looked at-that is, for example, with the upper righthand picture showing her eyes when she is looking at the upper right-hand corner of the right-hand page, and with the lower left-hand picture showing her eyes when she is looking at the lower left-hand corner of the left-hand page, of the double page of the magazine spread open before her; Fig. 4

is an enlargement, somewhat diagrammatic, of one of the small pictures of Fig. 3, to show the position of the eyes when looking generally toward an upper right-hand portion of the pages spread open before her; and Fig. 5 is a diagrammatic perspective view showing an apparatus for evaluating motion pictures which have been taken with the camera of Figs. 1 and 2.

In the illustrative form of apparatus shown in Figs. 1 and 2, the magazine or book I on which the test is to be made rests against an easel ll, slightly slanting backward so that the magazine or book will stay put thereon. This easel is desirably set fairly close to the vertical, as for instance at an angle of between and 30 from the vertical. The lower edge of the easel l'l rests upon a small table l2, near the forward edge of that table. If desired, the easel may be hinged to the small table l2, as by hinges l3, to permit adjustment of the angle of the easel; but those hinges are not necessary, and we prefer that the angle of the easel be fixed. If the hinges I3 are used, the easel may be provided at the rear with a supporting strut I4 which extends between the ease] and the small table l2 and is adjustable to different positions to control the angle of the easel. The small table I2, as shown, is provided with legs I6, conveniently four in number, which permits it to be put as a whole upon any convenient larger table H, such as a card table, which may be available in the home of the reader. The legs l6 are desirably adjustable, to permit adjustment of the height of the small table 12 and the leveling of that small table. For safety, the rear edge of the small table i2 may be provided with a strap i9, hooked to the rear edge of the larger table ll.

A pair of 'arms 20 are attached to and extend forward from the small table l2 at each side, and from the forward ends of those arms a frame 2| of inverted u-shape extends obliquely forward and upward. The frame 2| is shown as being rigid with the arms 20, although that is not necessary. Between the side arms of that U-shaped frame 2| a partially transparentmirror 22 is mounted, on hinge pins 23 by which the vertical angle of the partially transparent mirror may be adjusted as desired. This partially transparent mirror 22 permits the greater part of the light to pass through, but reflects some of the light that falls upon it. It is thus a partially reflecting mirror, or partial mirror as we shall call it for simplicity, but it nevertheless is sufiicient transparent to permit the reader to read a printed page through it with ease and without any substantial feeling of dimmed vision. This partial transparency is obtained by making the partial mirror 22 what is known as a halfsilvered mirror; and it has the silvering sufliciently light so that desirably at least half of the incident light is transmitted through it. This partial mirror 22 not only appears to the reader to be wholly transparent, but it is made large enough to enable him to see plainly the entire double-page spread of the open magazine behind it.

On the upper part of the inverted U-shaped frame 21 a motion-picture camera 26 is mount ed, with its focal axis extending obliquely downward through approximately the middle of the partial mirror 22 so that it will record whatever pictures are transmitted through and also whatever pictures are reflected by that partial mirror.

This motion-picture camera is so set, desirably,

that it will be out of the field of vision of the reader whose reactions are beingtested; It is pointed so that it will record the bottom part of the exposed pages on the easel H, desirably at the top of each frame of the motion picture which the camera makes; and will also record I on that motion picture, below the reproduction who is looking through the partial mirror 22 at the open pages of the book or magazine III on the easel II. By tilting the partial mirror 22 as necessary on its hinges 23, it is possible to get this adjustment as desired, so that in the picture the eyes of the reader will be unobstructed, but so that there will appear above those eyes, as on the forehead or in the hair, a reproduction of the bottom parts of the exposed pages, thus producing a picture of the type illustrated in Fig. 4.

In order to get the picture of the reader's eyes clear, it is desirable to provide a dark background for them in that part of the space behind the partial mirror 22 in which the image of the reader's eyes would appear. This is most conveniently done by providing a dark strip 24, a black strip for best results, of any suitable material, such for instance as dark paper or dark cloth or black-painted wood or metal; which extends forward from the lower edge of the easel Ii, desirably in an upwardly convex curve. It is desirable that this dark strip, or black strip, be about in the plane of the image of the face of the reader; but that is not necessary, as it is sumcient if the dark strip furnish a dark background for the reflected image of the readers eyes, as by reason of such a dark background the film in the motion-picture camera will make a clear record of that image.

The reader, whom we shall assume to be a girl because a girl is shown in the drawing, is desirably located in a sitting position in front of the easel II. She may sit on anordinary chair if no other seat is available; but we prefer that she sit on a vertically adjustable stool 28, so that the height of her eyes may be adjusted'to the substantial level of the hinges 23, as well as of a point slightly below the middle of the double page spread open before her of the book or magazine In which rests on the easel M. It is essential that the sitter always be in substantially the same position with relation to the book or magazine, and to the camera, as otherwise the pictures of her eyes will not always tell the same story.

When the girl reader is comfortably seated,

' so that she reads with ease the open pages before her on the easeli I, the half-silvered partial mirror 22 is tilted to adjust its vertical angle as necessary so that the motion picture camera 26 will record her eyes on each picture, against the background furnished by the dark strip 24, and below the record which it makes at the top of that picture of the bottoms of those open pages on the easel; as will be apparent from Figs. 2 and 4.

Suitable illuminating means, represented by a lamp 30, is arranged to illuminate both the open pages on the easel H and the face of the reader sitting on the stool 28, both in order to facilitate the reading and in order to produce sufficient illumination that the motion-picture camera 26 may obtain a clear picture both of the desired portion of those open pages and of the reflected image of the readers eyes. Illuminating means, such as the lamp 30, may be arranged in any suitable location or locations, but desirably are well out of the field of the readers direct vision.

The reader is not required to hold her head in any fixed position, and may move it with entire freedom so long as the reflected image of her eyes remains within the field of view of the motion-picture camera 26. Indeed. the reader carries no apparatus of any sort upon her body, or against her-head, but may sit on the stool a in any comfortable position she cares to assume; so that she is wholly free and unfettered.

With the reader thus seated free before the tables I! and i1, and the illuminating means such as the lamp 30 so arranged that it illuminates properly both her face and the open pages of the periodical, the motion-picture camera 26 is set into operation as she leafs through the magazine or book l0. She can leaf through it rapidly or slowly, and uniformly or non-uniformly, as she wishes; and she may dwell as long on any particular page or any particular page-part as she sees fit. As she finishes with one pair of pages, she turns the leaf to the next pair; ,andas her eyes rest on each pair of pages, she looks at those portions of the pages which appeal to her, and lets her eyes wander from one part to another of those pages free from all inhibitions and restrictions. If the motion picture is taken at the standard rate of sixteen pictures per second, there will be sixteen successive still pictures of her eyes in one position if she lets her glance rest on one particular part of the pair of pages for a second. If she lets them rest there five seconds, there will be eighty pictures. If she lets them merely pass by some portion of the pages which does not interest her, there may be only one or two pictures of her eyes looking at that particular portion of the pages. If the motion picture is taken at a different speed from the standard sixteen-persecond rate-for instance, at a slow speed of two' to eight pictures per second, as is sometimes advantageous both for economy of film and economy of effort in subsequent analysis-the number of pictures of the eyes in a given position for a given time varies correspondingly.

The pictures tell with great accuracy just what portion of the pages is being looked at. If the readers eyelids are raised, and the pupils are pointing slightly upward, she is looking at something near the top of the open pages; and her eyeballs will be directed more or less to one side or the other according to how far from the center line her glance is directed. If she is looking at something near the bottom of the pages, her eyelids will be almost closed; but nevertheless the pupils of her eyes will be sufficiently visible to determine which part of that lower edge of the pages is being looked at at any particular instant. At intermediate levels of her glance, her eyelids will be raised to a greater or less extent, By dividing ofi the pages into any number of arbitrary blocks, conveniently twenty-four in the group of pictures shown in Fig. 3 although that number is not a necessary one and may vary in accordance with the character of the matter on the open pages, it is readily possible to tell from looking at any picture what part of the open pages is being looked at; and, from a series of pictures, how long the readers glance remained on that particular part of the page.

Even though the reader moves her head, the picture of her eyes as she is glancing at any particular part of the page is always substantially the same in its indication of the direction of her look. She may tilt her head from side -to side, without materially affecting the indication in the picture of the direction of her glance; and, indeed, some of the pictures in Fig. 3 show her head very materially tilted.

The group of pictures of Fig. 3 constitute a the test is being made.

key for the interpretation of pictures, and in each of the pictures of Fig. 3 the lighterspace superposed upon th reader's forehead is a picture of the bottom part of a blank sheet placed upon the ease] and corresponding in size and shape to a pair of open pages of the magazine on which That is why the lower edge of that lighter area appears as a straight line in Fig. 3; for in the case of actual pages that line will depart from straightness, as is evident from Fig. 4. With va little practice in interpretation of the pictures, however, the key provided by Fig. 3 may be dispensed with, because the analyst soon obtains sufilcient skill to interpret the pictures without the need of a key.

When the reader has leafed through the megazine before her, the motion-picture film which has been taken of her eyes is developed, and then submitted for analysis with relation to the particular pages which she has inspected. A convenient apparatus for making such analysis is shown in Fig. 5. In that apparatus, the analyst 40 sits before an easel 4| on which rests the same magazine or book l0 which had previously rested on the easel ll (of Figs. 1 and 2) while the motion picture now to be analyzed was being taken. That motion-picture film 42 which had thus been taken with the camera 26 is run through a motion-picture projector 43, conveniently mounted above the easel 4|. The travel of the film 42 through the projector 43 is controlled by any suitable feed or control mechanism 44, located in convenient proximity to the analyst 40, as at the bottom of the easel 4|. The motion-picture projector 43 projects the picture against a slanting mirror 45, which reflects it on to a small screen 46, which is mounted upon the middle portion of the open pair of pages of the magazine Ill, The analyst if he wishes can let the film 42 travel at constant speed, say at the same speed at which the picture was taken whether that was sixteen pictures per second or at some other rate; and in that case the analyst, by looking at the pictures of the eyes on the screen 40, may by a stopwatch determine how many seconds the eyes were looking at any particular page or pages or at any particular part of any pair of open pages. For closer analysis, however, the analyst may let the film travel through the projector 43 with picture-by-picture control, so that he may examine any individual picture as long as he wishes; and in that case he will determine by counting the number of pictures how long the eyes were directed at any particular page or page-part. When the pictures on the screen 46 show at the top that a new pair of pages is being looked at, the analyst turns the pages of the magazine l0 correspondingly, and analyses those pages in the same manner. It is found that by this method of analysis, and even though the key of Fig. 3 is dispensed with, even an unskilled analyst can tell with probably at least accuracy what portion of the pages is being looked at at any particular moment, and after a little practice the analyst is able to analyze the pictures taken with an accuracy that surely exceeds and may even approach The analysis is made very quickly and easily; and the process and apparatus aiford a quick and effective and relatively inexpensive means of determining objectively and accurately the readers reaction.

Our method and apparatus are probably of primary importance in determining "a readers reaction to a printed page, more particularly of a book or a magazine. But that method and apparatus are useful for analyzing the readers reaction to anything a reader may be called upon to view, whether or not it is actually printed, and whether or not it is a book or a magazine: and so by the terms printed page and book or magazine we intend to include, not merely printed material and not merely material in the actual form-of books or magazines as commonly understood, but rather any material, whether printed or in other form, and whether reading matter or non-reading matter, to which an analysis of a readers reaction is desired.

We claim as our invention:

1. An apparatus for analyzing a readers reaction to a printed page, comprising a supporting member for holding a book or magazine in posi-.

tion to be read by a reader, a partly-transparent partly-reflecting partial mirror between the readers eyes and the book or magazine and through which the reader may read the book or magazine, and means for supporting a motionpicture camera in position to take a picture of the reflection of the readers whole eyes in said partial mirror and simultaneously to take a picture of a portion of the exposed page of the book or magazine.

2. An apparatus for analyzing a readers reaction to a printed page, comprising a supporting member for holding a book or magazine in position to be read by a reader, a partly-transparent partly-reflecting partial mirror between the readers eyes and the book or magazine and through which the reader mayread the book or magazine, and means for supporting a motionpicture camera in position to take a picture of the reflection of the readers whole eyes in said partial mirror.

3. An apparatus for analyzing a readers reaction to a printed page, comprising a supportin member for holding a book or magazine in position to be read by a reader, a partly-transparent partly-reflecting partial mirror mounted in tilted position between the reader's eyes and the book or magazine and through which the reader may read the book or magazine, a motion-picture camera mounted out of the readers view so that it is directed at such partial mirror so that it may take simultaneously a picture of the image of the readers whole eyes by light reflected by the partial mirror and of a portion of the exposed page or pages of the book or magazine by light transmitted through the partial mirror, and a dark member in position to furnish a dark background for said image of the readers eyes.

4. An apparatus for analyzing a readers reaction to a printed page, comprising asupporting member for holding a book or magazine in position to be read by a reader, a, partly-transparent partly-reflecting partial mirror mounted in tilted position between thereaders eyes and the book or magazine and through which the reader may read the book or magazine, a motion-picture camera mounted so that it is directed at such partial mirror so that it may take simultanetion to a printed page, comprising a supporting member for holding a book or magazine in position to be read by a reader, a partly-transparent partly-reflecting partial mirror mounted in tilted position between the readers eyes and the book or magazine and through which the reader may read the book or magazine, and a motion-picture camera mounted out of the readers view so that it is directed at such partial mirror so that it may take simultaneously a picture oi the image of the readers whole eyes by light reflected by the partial mirror and of a portion of the exposed page or pages of the book or magazine by light transmitted through the partial mirror.

6. An apparatus for analyzing a readers reaction to a printed page, comprising a supporting member for holding a book or magazine in position to be read by a reader, a partly-transparent partly-reflecting partial mirror mounted in tilted position between the readers eyes and the book or magazine and through which the reader may read the book or magazine, and a motion-picture camera mounted so that it is directed at such partial mirror so that it may take simultaneously a picture of the image of the readers whole eyes by light reflected by the partial mirror and of a portion of the exposed page or pages of the book or magazine by light transmitted through the partial mirror.

'7. An apparatus for analyzing a readers reaction to a printed page. comprising a supporting member for holding a book or magazine in position to be read by a reader, a partly-transparent partly-reflecting partial mirror mounted at an angle to the readers line of view between the readers eyes and the book or magazine and through which the reader may read the book or magazine, and a motion-picture camera mounted so that it is pointed at said partial mirror to take a combination picture resulting from the light transmitted and the light reflected by said partial mirror. 8. An apparatus for analyzing a readers reaction to a printed page, comprising asupporting member for holding a book or magazine in position to be read by a reader, a partly-transparent partly-reflecting partial mirror mounted between the readers eyes and the book or magazine and through which the reader may read the book or magazine, and a motion-picture camera mounted so that it is pointed at said partial mirror to take a combination picture in part by light transmitted through said partial mirror and in part by light reflected by said partial mirror of the reader's whole eyes and of a portion of the exposed page of the book or magazine.

JOSEPH mm. JAMES SPIER KARSLAKE.

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