Methods and apparatus to optimize reference signature matching using watermark matching

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11438649-B2
Application number	US-202017114117-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 7, 2020
Priority date	Dec 26, 2018
Publication date	Sep 6, 2022
Grant date	Sep 6, 2022

Abstract

Methods, apparatus, systems and articles of manufacture are disclosed to optimize reference signature matching using watermark matching. An example disclosed herein includes selecting first unhashed reference signatures to evaluate for a second time segment of monitoring data based on watermark coverage of a first time segment of the monitoring data, the monitoring data obtained from a meter monitoring media presented by a media device and comparing the first unhashed reference signatures with first unhashed monitored signatures from the second time segment of the monitoring data. The example further includes, when a first media event associated with the monitoring data is not identifiable based on the comparing of the first of unhashed reference signatures with the first unhashed monitored signatures hashing the first unhashed monitored signatures to form a corresponding first hashed monitored signatures and comparing the first hashed monitored signatures with a library of reference hashed signatures to determine the first media event associated with the second time segment of the monitoring data.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An apparatus comprising:
memory;
at least one processor to execute computer readable instructions to:
select first unhashed reference signatures to evaluate for a second time segment of meter data based on watermark coverage of a first time segment of the meter data, the meter data to be obtained from a meter that is to monitor media presented by a media device;
compare the first unhashed reference signatures with first unhashed monitored signatures from the second time segment of the meter data; and
compare, when a first media event associated with the meter data is not identifiable based on comparison of the first unhashed reference signatures with the first unhashed monitored signatures, first hashed monitored signatures with a library of reference hashed signatures to identify the first media event associated with the second time segment of the meter data, the first hashed monitored signatures generated from the first unhashed reference signatures.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the at least one processor is to:
hash the first unhashed monitored signatures to generate the first hashed monitored signatures when the first media event associated with the meter data is not identifiable based on the comparison of the first unhashed reference signatures with the first unhashed monitored signatures; and
not hash the first unhashed monitored signatures when the first media event associated with the meter data is identifiable based on the comparison of the first unhashed reference signatures with the first unhashed monitored signatures.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the at least one processor is to credit a user associated with the meter data based on the first media event.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the at least one processor is to:
determine the watermark coverage of the first time segment based on a presence of a detected watermark in the meter data; and
compare the detected watermark with a reference watermark to determine a second media event associated with the first time segment of the meter data.

5. The apparatus of claim 4 , wherein the at least one processor is to select the first unhashed reference signatures based on an offset between a first timestamp associated with the detected watermark and a second timestamp of the reference watermark.

6. The apparatus of claim 4 , wherein the at least one processor is to select the first unhashed reference signatures based on a media source associated with the reference watermark.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the at least one processor is to:
select second unhashed reference signatures to evaluate for a third time segment of meter data based on the comparison of the first unhashed reference signatures with first unhashed monitored signatures from the second time segment of the meter data; and
compare the second unhashed reference signatures with second unhashed monitored signatures from the second time segment of the meter data to identify a third media event associated with the third time segment.

8. The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein the at least one processor is to:
select third unhashed reference signatures to evaluate for a fourth time segment of meter data based on the comparison of the first hashed monitored signatures with a library of reference hashed signatures; and
compare the third unhashed reference signatures with third unhashed monitored signatures from the fourth time segment of the meter data to identify a fourth media event associated with the fourth time segment.

9. An apparatus comprising:
means for selecting first unhashed reference signatures to evaluate for a second time segment of meter data based on watermark coverage of a first time segment of the meter data, the meter data to be obtained from a meter that is to monitor media presented by a media device;
means for comparing unhashed signatures, the means for comparing unhashed signatures to compare the first unhashed reference signatures with first unhashed monitored signatures from the second time segment of the meter data; and
means for comparing hashed signatures, the means for comparing hashed signatures to compare, when a first media event associated with the meter data is not identifiable based on comparison of the first unhashed reference signatures with the first unhashed monitored signatures, first hashed monitored signatures with a library of reference hashed signatures to identify the first media event associated with the second time segment of the meter data, the first hashed monitored signatures generated from the first unhashed reference signatures.

10. The apparatus of claim 9 , further including means for signature hashing, the means for signature hashing to:
when a first media event associated with the meter data is not identifiable based on the comparison of the first unhashed reference signatures with the first unhashed monitored signatures, hash the first unhashed monitored signatures to generate the first hashed monitored signatures; and
when the first media event associated with the meter data is identifiable based on the comparison of the first unhashed reference signatures with the first unhashed monitored signatures, not hash the first unhashed monitored signatures.

11. The apparatus of claim 9 , further including means for watermark matching, the means for watermark matching to:
determine the watermark coverage of the first time segment based on a presence of a detected watermark in the meter data; and
compare the detected watermark with a reference watermark to determine a second media event associated with the first time segment of the meter data.

12. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the means for selecting is to select the first unhashed reference signatures further based on an offset between a first timestamp associated with the detected watermark and a second timestamp of the reference watermark.

13. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the means for selecting is to further base the selection of the first unhashed reference signatures on a media source associated with the reference watermark.

14. The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein:
the means for selecting is to select second unhashed reference signatures to evaluate for a third time segment of the meter data based on the comparison of the first unhashed reference signatures with first unhashed monitored signatures from the second time segment of the meter data; and
the means for comparing unhashed signatures is to compare the second unhashed reference signatures with second unhashed monitored signatures from the second time segment of the meter data to identify a third media event associated with the third time segment.

15. The apparatus of claim 14 , further including:
the means for selecting is to select third unhashed reference signatures to evaluate for a fourth time segment of meter data based on the comparison of the first hashed monitored signatures with the library of reference hashed signatures; and
the means for comparing unhashed signatures is to compare the third unhashed reference signatures with third unhashed monitored signatures from the fourth time segment of the meter data to identify a fourth media event associated with the fourth time segment.

16. At least one non-transitory computer readable storage medium comprising instructions which, when executed, cause at least one processor to at least:
select first unhashed reference signatures to evaluate for a second time segment of meter data based on watermark coverage of a first time segment of the meter data, the meter data to be obtained fr

Assignees

• Nielsen Co Us Llc

Inventors

• Petro James
• Nelson Dan
• Cross Deborah
• Ranganathan Raghuram

Classifications

• H04N21/8456

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

• H04N21/44204 Primary

  Monitoring of content usage, e.g. the number of times a movie has been viewed, copied or the amount which has been watched (monitoring of user activities for profile generation for accessing a video database G06F16/739; protecting generic digital content where the protection is independent of the precise nature of the content G06F21/10; arrangements for monitoring the use made of the broadcast services in broadcast systems H04H60/31) · CPC title

• H04N21/4667

  Processing of monitored end-user data, e.g. trend analysis based on the log file of viewer selections · 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

• H04N21/23418

  involving operations for analysing video streams, e.g. detecting features or characteristics (television picture signal circuitry for scene change detection H04N5/147; filtering for image enhancement G06T5/00; methods or arrangements for recognising scenes G06V20/00; arrangements characterised by components specially adapted for monitoring, identification or recognition of video in broadcast systems H04H60/59) · CPC title