Methods and apparatus for affiliate interrupt detection

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11082730-B2
Application number	US-201916588970-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 30, 2019
Priority date	Sep 30, 2019
Publication date	Aug 3, 2021
Grant date	Aug 3, 2021

Abstract

Methods, apparatus, systems and articles of manufacture are disclosed for affiliate interrupt detection. An example method disclosed herein includes determining whether a first time period of a first audio signal corresponds to a first affiliate interrupt period based on whether (1) a first type of watermark is detected in the first time period of the first audio signal, and (2) a second type of watermark is detected in the first audio signal outside the first time period but not in the first time period of the first audio signal, and determining whether the first time period of the first audio signal corresponds to the first affiliate interrupt period when watermarks are not detected in the first time period of the first audio signal based on comparison of first signatures with second signatures representing a corresponding first time period of a reference audio signal.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An apparatus comprising:
a watermark analyzer to determine whether a first time period of a first audio signal corresponds to a first affiliate interrupt period when watermarks are detected in the first time period of the first audio signal, the watermark analyzer to determine the first time period corresponds to the first affiliate interrupt period based on whether (1) a first type of watermark is detected in the first time period of the first audio signal, and (2) a second type of watermark is detected in the first audio signal outside the first time period but not in the first time period of the first audio signal; and
an audio signature analyzer to determine whether the first time period of the first audio signal corresponds to the first affiliate interrupt period when watermarks are not detected in the first time period of the first audio signal, the audio signature analyzer to determine the first time period corresponds to the first affiliate interrupt period based on comparison of first signatures representing the first time period of the first audio signal with second signatures representing a corresponding first time period of a reference audio signal.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the first type of watermark is a final distributor watermark encoded in the first audio signal by an affiliate broadcaster after receipt of the first audio signal from a national broadcaster, and the second type of watermark is a network watermark embedded by the national broadcaster prior to distribution of the first audio signal to the affiliate broadcaster.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the reference audio signal is associated with media distributed from a network broadcaster, and the first audio signal is associated with media broadcast from an affiliate of the network broadcaster.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the audio signature analyzer is to determine the first time period of the first audio signal corresponds to the first affiliate interrupt period when the first signatures representing the first time period of the first audio signal do not match the second signatures representing the corresponding first time period of the reference audio signal.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 , further including an audio signature generator to process the first audio signal to generate the first signatures representing the first time period of the first audio signal.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the watermark analyzer is to determine whether the first time period corresponds to the first affiliate interrupt period based on whether (1) the first type of watermark or a third type of watermark is detected in the first time period and (2) the second type of watermark or a fourth type of watermark is detected in the first audio signal outside the first time period but not in the first time period, wherein the first type of watermark and the third type of watermark correspond to final distributor watermarks and the second type of watermark and the fourth type of watermark correspond to network watermarks.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 , further including a video signature analyzer to determine whether the first time period of the first audio signal corresponds to the first affiliate interrupt period based on comparison of (i) first video signatures generated from a first video signal associated with the first audio signal and (ii) second video signatures representative of a corresponding reference video signal associated with the reference audio signal, the video signature analyzer including a video signature generator to generate the first video signatures from the first video signal.

8. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium comprising computer readable instructions that, when executed, cause a processor to:
determine whether a first time period of a first audio signal corresponds to a first affiliate interrupt period when watermarks are detected in the first time period of the first audio signal, the determining whether the first time period corresponds to the first affiliate interrupt period based on whether (1) a first type of watermark is detected in the first time period of the first audio signal, and (2) a second type of watermark is detected in the first audio signal outside the first time period but not in the first time period of the first audio signal; and
determine whether the first time period of the first audio signal corresponds to the first affiliate interrupt period when watermarks are not detected in the first time period of the first audio signal, the determining whether the first time period corresponds to the first affiliate interrupt period based on comparison of first signatures representing the first time period of the first audio signal with second signatures representing a corresponding first time period of a reference audio signal.

9. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 8 , wherein the first type of watermark is a final distributor watermark encoded in the first audio signal by an affiliate broadcaster after receipt of the first audio signal from a national broadcaster, and the second type of watermark is a network watermark embedded by the national broadcaster prior to distribution of the first audio signal to the affiliate broadcaster.

10. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 8 , wherein the reference audio signal is associated with media distributed from a network broadcaster, and the first audio signal is associated with media broadcast from an affiliate of the network broadcaster.

11. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 8 , wherein the instructions, when executed, cause the processor to determine the first time period of the first audio signal corresponds to the first affiliate interrupt period when the first signatures representing the first time period of the first audio signal do not match the second signatures representing the corresponding first time period of the reference audio signal.

12. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 8 , wherein the instructions, when executed, cause the processor to generate the first signatures representing the first time period of the first audio signal.

13. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 8 , wherein the instructions, when executed, cause the processor to determine whether the first time period corresponds to the first affiliate interrupt period based on whether (1) the first type of watermark or a third type of watermark is detected in the first time period and (2) the second type of watermark or a fourth type of watermark is detected in the first audio signal outside the first time period but not in the first time period, wherein the first type of watermark and the third type of watermark correspond to final distributor watermarks and the second type of watermark and the fourth type of watermark correspond to network watermarks.

14. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 8 , wherein the instructions, when executed, cause the processor to determine whether the first time period of the first audio signal corresponds to the first affiliate interrupt period based on comparison of (i) first video signatures generated from a first video signal associated with the first audio signal and (ii) second video signatures representative of a corresponding reference video signal associated with the reference audio signal, the instructions, when executed, to cause the processor to generate the first video signatures from the first video signal.

15. A method including:
determining whether a first time p

Assignees

• Nielsen Co Us Llc

Inventors

• Davis Jeremey M
• Wright David H
• Topchy Alexander
• Ponraj Cherisse
• Curtis Chris
• Chazen Jonathan
• Cremer Markus Kurt
• Gupta Sharmishtha
• Scott Jeffrey

Classifications

• H04N21/26283

  for associating distribution time parameters to content, e.g. to generate electronic programme guide data · CPC title

• H04N21/23424

  involving splicing one content stream with another content stream, e.g. for inserting or substituting an advertisement · CPC title

• H04N21/8358

  involving watermark {(protecting executable software by watermarking G06F21/16; image watermarking in general G06T1/0021; watermarks inserted in still images for transmission purposes H04N1/32144; inserting watermarks during video coding H04N19/467)} · CPC title

• H04N21/8456

  by decomposing the content in the time domain, e.g. in time segments · CPC title

• H04N21/23892 Primary

  involving embedding information at multiplex stream level, e.g. embedding a watermark at packet level · CPC title