Methods and apparatus for affiliate interrupt detection

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12088865-B2
Application number	US-202318321600-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 22, 2023
Priority date	Sep 30, 2019
Publication date	Sep 10, 2024
Grant date	Sep 10, 2024

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. A computing system comprising:
a processor; and
a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, having stored thereon program instructions that, upon execution by the processor, cause performance of a set of operations comprising:
determining, after a first determination that a time segment of a media signal includes an affiliate watermark, that the time segment of the media signal lacks a first network watermark based on an elapsed time since detection of a second network watermark in the media signal; and
identifying the time segment as corresponding to an affiliate interrupt based on a second determination that the time segment lacks the first network watermark.

2. The computing system of claim 1 , wherein the elapsed time is a first elapsed time and the time segment is a first time segment, and wherein the set of operations further comprise determining, after a third determination that a second time segment of the media signal does not include the affiliate watermark, that the second time segment lacks watermarks based on a second elapsed time since detection of any watermark in the media signal.

3. The computing system of claim 2 , wherein the set of operations further comprise determining, after a fourth determination that the second time segment lacks watermarks, that the second time segment corresponds to the affiliate interrupt based on one or more signatures of the media signal.

4. The computing system of claim 1 , wherein the set of operations further comprise identifying the media signal corresponds to known content based on a start and end time of the affiliate interrupt period corresponding to a time period of the known content.

5. The computing system of claim 1 , wherein the elapsed time is based on a frequency at which a network broadcaster is expected to encode network watermarks into the media signal.

6. The computing system of claim 1 , wherein the elapsed time is a first elapsed time, and wherein the set of operations further comprise:
determining whether the time segment lacks the first network watermark based on the first elapsed time since detection of the second network watermark in the media signal, the first network watermark and the second network watermark in a first format; and
determining whether the time segment lacks a third network watermark based on a second elapsed time since detection of a fourth network watermark in the media signal, the third network watermark and the fourth network watermark in a second format.

7. The computing system of claim 6 , wherein the set of operations further comprise identifying the time segment as corresponding to the affiliate interrupt based on a third determination that the time segment lacks the first network watermark and the third network watermark.

8. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, having stored thereon program instructions that, upon execution by a processor, cause performance of a set of operations comprising:
determining, after a first determination that a time segment of a media signal includes an affiliate watermark, that the time segment of the media signal lacks a first network watermark based on an elapsed time since detection of a second network watermark in the media signal; and
identifying the time segment as corresponding to an affiliate interrupt based on a second determination that the time segment lacks the first network watermark.

9. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 8 , wherein the elapsed time is a first elapsed time and the time segment is a first time segment, and wherein the set of operations further comprise determining, after a third determination that a second time segment of the media signal does not include the affiliate watermark, that the second time segment lacks watermarks based on a second elapsed time since detection of any watermark in the media signal.

10. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 9 , wherein the set of operations further comprise determining, after a fourth determination that the second time segment lacks watermarks, that the second time segment corresponds to the affiliate interrupt based on one or more signatures of the media signal.

11. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 8 , wherein the set of operations further comprise identifying the media signal corresponds to known content based on a start and end time of the affiliate interrupt period corresponding to a time period of the known content.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 8 , wherein the elapsed time is based on a frequency at which a network broadcaster is expected to encode network watermarks into the media signal.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 8 , wherein the elapsed time is a first elapsed time, and wherein the set of operations further comprise:
determining whether the time segment lacks the first network watermark based on the first elapsed time since detection of the second network watermark in the media signal, the first network watermark and the second network watermark in a first format; and
determining whether the time segment lacks a third network watermark based on a second elapsed time since detection of a fourth network watermark in the media signal, the third network watermark and the fourth network watermark in a second format.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 13 , wherein the set of operations further comprise identifying the time segment as corresponding to the affiliate interrupt based on a third determination that the time segment lacks the first network watermark and the third network watermark.

15. A method comprising:
after a first determination that a time segment of a media signal includes an affiliate watermark, determining, by executing an instruction with a processor, that the time segment of the media signal lacks a first network watermark based on an elapsed time since detection of a second network watermark in the media signal; and
identifying, by executing an instruction with the processor, the time segment as corresponding to an affiliate interrupt based on a second determination that the time segment lacks the first network watermark.

16. The method of claim 15 , wherein the elapsed time is a first elapsed time and the time segment is a first time segment, and further comprising:
determining, after a third determination that a second time segment of the media signal does not include the affiliate watermark, that the second time segment lacks watermarks based on a second elapsed time since detection of any watermark in the media signal.

17. The method of claim 16 , further comprising, after a fourth determination that the second time segment lacks watermarks, determining that the second time segment corresponds to the affiliate interrupt based on one or more signatures of the media signal.

18. The method of claim 15 , further comprising:
identifying the media signal corresponds to known content based on a start and end time of the affiliate interrupt period corresponding to a time period of the known content.

19. The method of claim 15 , wherein the elapsed time is a first elapsed time, and the method further comprises:
determining whether the time segment lacks the first network watermark based on the first elapsed time since detection of the second network watermark in the media signal, the first network watermark and the second network watermark in a first format; and
determining whether the time s

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

• H04N21/812

  involving advertisement data (advertising per se G06Q30/02) · CPC title

• H04N21/26283

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

• H04N21/233 Primary

  Processing of audio elementary streams {(monitoring, identification or recognition of audio in broadcast systems H04H60/58)} · CPC title