Media channel identification with multi-match detection and disambiguation based on single-match

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11627372-B2
Application number	US-202217659638-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 18, 2022
Priority date	Feb 29, 2016
Publication date	Apr 11, 2023
Grant date	Apr 11, 2023

Abstract

Disclosed herein are methods and systems to help disambiguate channel identification in a scenario where fingerprint data of media content matches multiple reference fingerprints corresponding respectively with multiple different channels. Upon detecting such a multi-match, a server or other entity will perform disambiguation based on a determination that a segment of the fingerprint data matches a reference fingerprint corresponding with just a single channel, such as a reference fingerprint representing commercial or news programming content specific to just the single channel. The server or other entity will thereby determine the channel on which the media content being rendered by the media presentation device is arriving, so as to facilitate taking channel-specific action.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
pre-establishing, by a computing system, a multi-match group of multiple instances of reference fingerprint data each corresponding with a different respective channel, by comparing the multiple instances of reference fingerprint data with each other and finding that the multiple instances of reference fingerprint data match each other;
determining, by the computing system, that first digital fingerprint data representing first one or more segments of media content being received by a media presentation device matches the pre-established multi-match group; and
after determining that the first digital fingerprint data matches the pre-established multi-match group, performing, by the computing system, disambiguation based at least in part on an earlier determination that second digital fingerprint data representing second one or more segments of the media content being received by the media presentation device matches reference fingerprint data corresponding with just a single channel, the disambiguation establishing that the media presentation device is receiving the media content on the single channel.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the establishing that the media presentation device is receiving the media content on the single channel facilitates taking associated action.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the associated action comprises an action selected from the group consisting of (i) causing an advertisement to be presented in place of a portion of the media content and (ii) recording presentation of the single channel for use in a channel ratings system.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the second one or more segments of the media content being received by the media presentation device comprises content selected from the group consisting of commercial content and news programming.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first digital fingerprint data representing the first one or more segments is generated by the media presentation device, wherein the second digital fingerprint data representing the second one or more segments is generated by the media presentation device, and wherein the method further comprises:
receiving, from the media presentation device, the first digital fingerprint data representing the first one or more segments and the digital fingerprint data representing the second one or more segments.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
making the determination that second digital fingerprint data representing the second one or more segments of the media content being received by the media presentation device matches the reference fingerprint data corresponding with just the single channel, wherein making the determination comprises:
comparing the second digital fingerprint data representing the second one or more segments of the media content being received by the media presentation device with at least each of the multiple instances of reference fingerprint data; and
based on the comparing, determining that the second digital fingerprint data representing the second one or more segments of the media content being received by the media presentation device matches just a single one of the multiple instances of reference fingerprint data.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the reference fingerprint data corresponding with just the single channel comprises reference fingerprint data representing channel-distinguishing content specific to the single channel, the method further comprising:
making the determination that the second digital fingerprint data representing the second one or more segments of the media content being received by the media presentation device matches the reference fingerprint data corresponding with just the single channel, wherein making the determination comprises comparing the second digital fingerprint data representing the second one or more segments of the media content being received by the media presentation device with the reference fingerprint data representing the channel-distinguishing content.

8. A system comprising:
at least one processor;
non-transitory data storage; and
program instructions stored in the non-transitory data storage and executable by the at least one processor to carry out operations including:
pre-establishing a multi-match group of multiple instances of reference fingerprint data each corresponding with a different respective channel, by comparing the multiple instances of reference fingerprint data with each other and finding that the multiple instances of reference fingerprint data match each other,
determining that first digital fingerprint data representing first one or more segments of media content being rendered by a media presentation device matches the pre-established multi-match group, and
after determining that the first digital fingerprint data matches the pre-established multi-match group, performing disambiguation based at least in part on an earlier determination that second digital fingerprint data representing second one or more segments of the media content being rendered by the media presentation device matches reference fingerprint data corresponding with just a single channel, the disambiguation establishing that the media presentation device is receiving the media content on the single channel.

9. The system of claim 8 , wherein the establishing that the media presentation device is receiving the media content on the single channel facilitates taking associated action.

10. The system of claim 9 , wherein the associated action comprises an action selected from the group consisting of (i) causing an advertisement to be presented in place of a portion of the media content and (ii) recording presentation of the single channel for use in a channel ratings system.

11. The system of claim 8 , wherein the second one or more segments of the media content being received by the media presentation device comprises content selected from the group consisting of commercial content and news programming.

12. The system of claim 8 , wherein the operations further comprise:
receiving, from the media presentation device, the first digital fingerprint data representing the first one or more segments and the second digital fingerprint data representing the second one or more segments.

13. The system of claim 8 , wherein the operations further comprise:
making the determination that second digital fingerprint data representing the second one or more segments of the media content being received by the media presentation device matches the reference fingerprint data corresponding with just the single channel, wherein making the determination comprises:
comparing the second digital fingerprint data representing the second one or more segments of the media content being received by the media presentation device with at least each of the multiple instances of reference fingerprint data; and
based on the comparing, determining that the second digital fingerprint data representing the second one or more segments of the media content being received by the media presentation device matches just a single one of the multiple instances of reference fingerprint data.

14. The system of claim 8 , wherein the reference fingerprint data corresponding with just the single channel comprises reference fingerprint data representing channel-distinguishing content specific to the single channel, the operations further comprising:
making the determination that the second digital fingerprint data representing the second one or more segments of the media content being received by the media presentation device matche

Assignees

• Roku Inc

Inventors

• Lee Jaehyung
• Seo Chung Won
• Kwon Youngmoo

Classifications

• H04N21/8352

  involving content or source identification data, e.g. Unique Material Identifier [UMID] · CPC title

• H04N21/6118

  involving cable transmission, e.g. using a cable modem · CPC title

• H04N21/6582

  Data stored in the client, e.g. viewing habits, hardware capabilities, credit card number (arrangements where receivers interact with the broadcast H04H20/38) · CPC title

• H04N21/2385

  Channel allocation (H04N21/266 takes precedence); Bandwidth allocation (H04N21/24 takes precedence {; allocation of channels according to the instantaneous demands of the users in time-division multiplex systems H04J3/1682; admission control, resource allocation in open networks H04L12/5692; arrangements for maintenance or administration in data switching networks involving bandwidth and capacity management H04L41/0896; negotiating bandwidth in wireless networks H04W28/16}) · CPC title

• H04N21/44008

  involving operations for analysing video streams, e.g. detecting features or characteristics in the video stream (arrangements characterised by components specially adapted for monitoring, identification or recognition of video in broadcast systems H04H60/59) · CPC title