Methods and apparatus to generate a signature based on signature candidates

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12177535-B2
Application number	US-202318463623-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 8, 2023
Priority date	May 26, 2021
Publication date	Dec 24, 2024
Grant date	Dec 24, 2024

Abstract

Methods, apparatus, systems and articles of manufacture are disclosed to generate a signature based on signature candidates. An example apparatus disclosed herein includes first means for determining an alignment point of a first candidate signature segment and a second candidate signature segment, the first candidate signature segment and the second candidate signature segment include time data and signature data, the alignment point based on the time data of the first candidate signature segment and the time data of the second candidate signature segment, means for comparing a first signature to a second signature at the alignment point, the first signature representative of media included in the first candidate signature segment, the second signature included in the second candidate signature segment, and means for stitching the second signature to the first signature based on the comparison to generate a stitched signature, the stitched signature to be used for media crediting.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A computing system comprising a processor and a memory, the computing system configured to perform a set of acts comprising:
obtaining a first signature segment corresponding to a first portion of an episode, the first signature segment including first time data and first signature data;
obtaining a second signature segment corresponding to a second portion of the episode, the second signature segment including second time data and second signature data;
identifying a sequence of time values in the first time data that sequentially matches a sequence of time values in the second time data;
aligning the first signature segment and the second signature segment based on sequence of time values in the first time data and the sequence of time values in the second signature data;
based on the aligning, identifying a sequence of signature values in the first signature data that sequentially matches a sequence of signatures values in the second signature data; and
stitching a portion of the first signature segment with a portion of the second signature segment at a stitching point within the sequence of signature values in the first signature data.

2. The computing system of claim 1 , wherein the set of acts further comprises determining the stitching point within the sequence of signature values in the first signature data.

3. The computing system of claim 1 , wherein identifying the sequence of signature values in the first signature data that sequentially matches the sequence of signature values in the second signature data comprises determining that each signature value of the sequence of signature values in the first signature data is within a threshold of a signature value of the sequence of signature values in the second signature data at a corresponding position within the sequence of signature values in the second signature data.

4. The computing system of claim 1 , wherein:
the portion of the first signature segment is a portion of the first signature segment that occurs before the stitching point; and
the portion of the second signature segment is a portion of the second signature segment that occurs after the stitching point.

5. The computing system of claim 4 , wherein stitching the portion of the first signature segment with the portion of the second signature segment at the stitching point further comprises recalculating the second time data based on the first time data.

6. The computing system of claim 1 , wherein the set of acts further comprises storing the stitched combination of the first signature segment and the second signature segment as a reference signature in a reference database.

7. The computing system of claim 6 , wherein the set of acts further comprises using the reference signature for media crediting.

8. The computing system of claim 1 , wherein the episode is a subscription video on demand (SVOD) asset.

9. A method comprising:
obtaining, by a computing system, a first signature segment corresponding to a first portion of an episode, the first signature segment including first time data and first signature data;
obtaining, by the computing system, a second signature segment corresponding to a second portion of the episode, the second signature segment including second time data and second signature data;
identifying, by the computing system, a sequence of time values in the first time data that sequentially matches a sequence of time values in the second time data;
aligning, by the computing system, the first signature segment and the second signature segment based on sequence of time values in the first time data and the sequence of time values in the second signature data;
based on the aligning, identifying, by the computing system, a sequence of signature values in the first signature data that sequentially matches a sequence of signatures values in the second signature data; and
stitching, by the computing system, a portion of the first signature segment with a portion of the second signature segment at a stitching point within the sequence of signature values in the first signature data.

10. The method of claim 9 , further comprising determining the stitching point within the sequence of signature values in the first signature data.

11. The method of claim 9 , wherein identifying the sequence of signature values in the first signature data that sequentially matches the sequence of signature values in the second signature data comprises determining that each signature value of the sequence of signature values in the first signature data is within a threshold of a signature value of the sequence of signature values in the second signature data at a corresponding position within the sequence of signature values in the second signature data.

12. The method of claim 9 , wherein:
the portion of the first signature segment is a portion of the first signature segment that occurs before the stitching point; and
the portion of the second signature segment is a portion of the second signature segment that occurs after the stitching point.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein stitching the portion of the first signature segment with the portion of the second signature segment at the stitching point further comprises recalculating the second time data based on the first time data.

14. The method of claim 9 , further comprising storing the stitched combination of the first signature segment and the second signature segment as a reference signature in a reference database.

15. The method of claim 14 , further comprising using the reference signature for media crediting.

16. The method of claim 9 , wherein the episode is a subscription video on demand (SVOD) asset.

17. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having stored therein instructions that when executed by a computing system cause the computing system to perform a set of acts comprising:
obtaining a first signature segment corresponding to a first portion of an episode, the first signature segment including first time data and first signature data;
obtaining a second signature segment corresponding to a second portion of the episode, the second signature segment including second time data and second signature data;
identifying a sequence of time values in the first time data that sequentially matches a sequence of time values in the second time data;
aligning the first signature segment and the second signature segment based on sequence of time values in the first time data and the sequence of time values in the second signature data;
based on the aligning, identifying a sequence of signature values in the first signature data that sequentially matches a sequence of signatures values in the second signature data; and
stitching a portion of the first signature segment with a portion of the second signature segment at a stitching point within the sequence of signature values in the first signature data.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 17 , wherein the set of acts further comprises determining the stitching point within the sequence of signature values in the first signature data.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 17 , wherein identifying the sequence of signature values in the first signature data that sequentially matches the sequence of signature values in the second signature data comprises determining that each signature value of the sequence of signature values in the first signature data is within a threshold of a signature value of the sequence of signature value

Assignees

• Nielsen Co Us Llc

Inventors

• Nelson Daniel
• Wright David H
• Ranganathan Raghuram

Classifications

• H04N21/854

  Content authoring · CPC title

• H04N21/6377

  directed to server {(one-way streaming services wherein the source is controlled by the destination H04L65/613)} · CPC title

• H04N21/4394

  involving operations for analysing the audio stream, e.g. detecting features or characteristics in audio streams (arrangements characterised by components specially adapted for monitoring, identification or recognition of audio in broadcast systems H04H60/58) · CPC title

• H04N21/44204

  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

• H04N21/2407

  Monitoring of transmitted content, e.g. distribution time, number of downloads (arrangements for monitoring programmes for broadcast or for distribution combined with broadcast H04H20/14) · CPC title