Methods and apparatus to synthesize reference media signatures

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10536757-B2
Application number	US-201815894303-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 12, 2018
Priority date	Aug 17, 2017
Publication date	Jan 14, 2020
Grant date	Jan 14, 2020

Abstract

Methods and apparatus to synthesize reference media signatures based on constituent media signatures generated by metered media devices are disclosed. An example apparatus includes a collector to collect first constituent media signatures from a first media device that identify a first portion of media, a collector to collect second constituent media signatures from a second media device that identify a second portion of the media, and a synthesizer to combine the first constituent media signatures from the first media device and the second constituent media signatures from the second media device to form a reference media signature that represents the media, the reference media signature for comparison with third constituent media signatures collected from a third media device to detect consumption of the media at the third media device.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An apparatus comprising:
a collector to:
obtain first collected media signatures from a first media device that identify a first portion of media; and
obtain second collected media signatures from a second media device that identify a second portion of the media;

a stream editor to discard a first portion of the first collected media signatures in response to detection of an event;
a timestamp editor to change values of timestamps of respective ones of a second portion of the first collected media signatures to be contiguous with timestamps of ones of the first collected media signatures preceding the first portion of the first collected media signatures discarded in response to detection of the event; and
a synthesizer to combine, after the first portion of the first collected media signatures is discarded, remaining ones of the first collected media signatures from the first media device and at least some of the second collected media signatures from the second media device to form a reference media signature to represent the media, the reference media signature for comparison with third collected media signatures from a third media device to detect exposure to the media at the third media device.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , further including:
an event detector to detect the event, the event corresponding to at least one of a pause event, a stop event, a skip event, a fast-forward event, or a rewind event.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 , further including a media time editor to modify media times in the media associated with the second portion of the first collected media signatures to compensate for the first portion of the first collected media signatures being discarded.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the first media device corresponds to the second media device.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the collector is to:
obtain first metadata data from the first device, the first metadata associated with the first collected media signatures; and
obtain second metadata data from the second device, the second metadata associated with the second collected media signatures.

6. The apparatus of claim 5 , wherein the first metadata is to identify (i) the media and (ii) an operation performed by the first media device, the operation corresponding to the event.

7. A method comprising:
obtaining first collected media signatures from a first media device that identify a first portion of media;
obtaining second collected media signatures from a second media device that identify a second portion of the media;
discarding, by executing an instruction with a processor, a first portion of the first collected media signatures in response to detection of an event;
changing, by executing an instruction with the processor, values of timestamps of respective ones of a second portion of the first collected media signatures to be contiguous with timestamps of ones of the first collected media signatures preceding the first portion of the first collected media signatures discarded in response to detection of the event; and
combining, by executing an instruction with the processor, remaining ones of the first collected media signatures from the first media device after the first portion of the first collected media signatures is discarded with at least some of the second collected media signatures from the second media device to form a reference media signature that identifies the media.

8. The method of claim 7 , further including:
collecting a third media signature from a third media device;
comparing the third media signature with the reference media signature to identify presentation of the media at the third media device.

9. The method of claim 7 , wherein the event corresponds to at least one of a pause event, a stop event, a skip event, a fast-forward event, or a rewind event.

10. The method of claim 9 , further including modifying media times in the media associated with the second portion of the first collected media signatures to compensate for discarding the first portion of the first collected media signatures.

11. The method of claim 7 , wherein the first media device corresponds to the second media device.

12. The method of claim 7 , further including:
obtaining first metadata data from the first device, the first metadata associated with the first collected media signatures; and
obtaining second metadata data from the second device, the second metadata associated with the second collected media signatures.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein the first metadata is to identify (i) the media and (ii) an operation performed by the first media device, the operation corresponding to the event.

14. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprising instructions that, when executed, cause a machine to at least:
obtain first collected media signatures from a first media device that identify a first portion of media;
obtain second collected media signatures from a second media device that identify a second portion of the media;
discard a first portion of the first collected media signatures in response to detection of an event;
change values of timestamps of respective ones of a second portion of the first collected media signatures to be contiguous with timestamps of ones of the first collected media signatures preceding the first portion of the first collected media signatures discarded in response to detection of the event; and
combine remaining ones of the first collected media signatures from the first media device after the first portion of the first collected media signatures is discarded with at least some of the second collected media signatures from the second media device to form a reference media signature that represents the media, the reference media signature for comparison with third collected media signatures obtained from a third media device to detect exposure to the media at the third media device.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 14 , wherein the event corresponds to at least one of a pause event, a stop event, a skip event, a fast-forward event, or a rewind event.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15 , including instructions that, when executed, cause the machine to modify media times in the media associated with the second portion of the first collected media signatures to compensate for discarding the first portion of the first collected media signatures.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 14 , including instructions that, when executed, cause the machine to:
obtain first metadata data from the first device, the first metadata associated with the first collected media signatures; and
obtain second metadata data from the second device, the second metadata associated with the second collected media signatures.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 17 , wherein the first metadata is to identify (i) the media and (ii) an operation performed by the first media device, the operation corresponding to the event.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 14 , wherein the first media device corresponds to the second media device.

Assignees

• Nielsen Co Us Llc

Inventors

• Borawski Albert T
• Nelson Daniel
• Chauhan Vinay

Classifications

• H04N21/26603

  for automatically generating descriptors from content, e.g. when it is not made available by its provider, using content analysis techniques · CPC title

• H04N21/435 Primary

  Processing of additional data, e.g. decrypting of additional data, reconstructing software from modules extracted from the transport stream · CPC title

• H04N21/8547

  involving timestamps for synchronizing content · CPC title

• H04N21/258

  Client or end-user data management, e.g. managing client capabilities, user preferences or demographics, processing of multiple end-users preferences to derive collaborative data {(arrangements for services using the result on the distributing side of broadcast systems H04H60/66; profiles in network data switching protocols H04L67/30)} · CPC title

• H04N21/835

  Generation of protective data, e.g. certificates {(protecting software against unauthorised usage in a vending or licensing environment G06F21/10)} · CPC title