Methods and apparatus to detect a presence status

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12244894-B2
Application number	US-202318477765-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 29, 2023
Priority date	Sep 21, 2021
Publication date	Mar 4, 2025
Grant date	Mar 4, 2025

Abstract

Methods, apparatus, systems, and articles of manufacture are disclosed to detect a presence status. An example apparatus includes media identification circuitry to generate first signatures representative of first audio data associated with a monitored media device, a comparator to obtain second signatures from a portable meter, the second signatures representative of second audio data sensed by the portable meter and compare the first signatures and the second signatures to determine a comparison result, presence detection circuitry to determine a presence status of a user based on the comparison result, the user associated with the portable meter, and network communication circuitry to transmit the presence status to a data processor to perform audience measurement based on the presence status.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A portable meter device comprising:
an audio sensor;
a network interface;
a processor; and
a memory having stored thereon machine readable instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the portable meter device to perform operations comprising:
obtaining, via the audio sensor, an audio sample of a media presentation environment;
generating first media identifying data based on the audio sample;
obtaining, via the network interface, second media identifying data from a meter device associated with a media presentation device disposed at the media presentation environment;
generating, based on the first media identifying data and the second media identifying data, a presence status characterizing a presence of a user at the media presentation environment; and
transmitting, via the network interface, the presence status to a remote server.

2. The portable meter device of claim 1 , wherein the presence status comprises:
a presence score that is a numerical value characterizing the presence of the user at the media presentation environment.

3. The portable meter device of claim 1 , wherein the first media identifying data and the second media identifying data each comprise at least one of: a signature or a watermark.

4. The portable meter device of claim 1 , wherein generating, based on the first media identifying data and the second media identifying data, the presence status characterizing the presence of the user at the media presentation environment comprises:
determining a similarity score characterizing a degree of similarity between the first media identifying data and the second media identifying data;
determining whether the similarity score is above a threshold; and
based on determining whether the similarity score is above the threshold, generating the presence status characterizing the presence of the user at the media presentation environment.

5. The portable meter device of claim 4 , wherein the similarity score specifies a number of signatures or watermarks that match between the first media identifying data and the second media identifying data in a predefined monitoring interval.

6. The portable meter device of claim 1 , wherein the operations further comprise:
augmenting the presence status based on characteristics of radio frequency signals that are received by the portable meter device from the meter device associated with the media presentation device via the network interface.

7. The portable meter device of claim 1 , wherein the audio sample is a first audio sample, and wherein the operations further comprise:
receiving a prompt, via the network interface, and in response causing the audio sensor to obtain a second audio sample of the media presentation environment.

8. The portable meter device of claim 7 , wherein the prompt is sent to the portable meter device in response to a detection of an event associated with a media presentation being presented by the media presentation device at the media presentation environment.

9. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium having stored thereon program instructions that, upon execution by a processor, cause performance of operations comprising:
obtaining, via an audio sensor of a portable meter device, an audio sample of a media presentation environment;
generating first media identifying data based on the audio sample;
obtaining, via a network interface of the portable meter device, second media identifying data from a meter device associated with a media presentation device disposed at the media presentation environment;
generating, based on the first media identifying data and the second media identifying data, a presence status characterizing a presence of a user at the media presentation environment; and
transmitting, via the network interface, the presence status to a remote server.

10. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 9 , wherein the presence status comprises:
a presence score that is a numerical value characterizing the presence of the user at the media presentation environment.

11. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 9 , wherein the first media identifying data and the second media identifying data each comprise at least one of: a signature or a watermark.

12. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 9 , wherein generating, based on the first media identifying data and the second media identifying data, the presence status characterizing the presence of the user at the media presentation environment comprises:
determining a similarity score characterizing a degree of similarity between the first media identifying data and the second media identifying data;
determining whether the similarity score is above a threshold; and
based on determining whether the similarity score is above the threshold, generating the presence status characterizing the presence of the user at the media presentation environment.

13. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 12 , wherein the similarity score specifies a number of signatures or watermarks that match between the first media identifying data and the second media identifying data in a predefined monitoring interval.

14. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 9 , wherein the operations further comprise:
augmenting the presence status based on characteristics of radio frequency signals that are received by the portable meter device from the meter device associated with the media presentation device via the network interface.

15. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 9 , wherein the audio sample is a first audio sample, and wherein the operations further comprise:
receiving a prompt, via the network interface, and in response causing the audio sensor to obtain a second audio sample of the media presentation environment.

16. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 15 , wherein the prompt is sent to the portable meter device in response to a detection of an event associated with a media presentation being presented by the media presentation device at the media presentation environment.

17. A method performed by a portable meter device, the method comprising:
obtaining, via an audio sensor of the portable meter device, an audio sample of a media presentation environment;
generating first media identifying data based on the audio sample;
obtaining, via a network interface of the portable meter device, second media identifying data from a meter device associated with a media presentation device disposed at the media presentation environment;
generating, based on the first media identifying data and the second media identifying data, a presence status characterizing a presence of a user at the media presentation environment; and
transmitting, via the network interface, the presence status to a remote server.

18. The method of claim 17 , wherein the presence status comprises:
a presence score that is a numerical value characterizing the presence of the user at the media presentation environment.

19. The method of claim 17 , wherein the first media identifying data and the second media identifying data each comprise at least one of: a signature or a watermark.

20. The method of claim 17 , wherein generating, based on the first media identifying data and the second media identifying data, the presence status characterizing the presence of the user at the media presentation enviro

Assignees

• Nielsen Co Us Llc

Inventors

• Berrada Meryem
• Lerch Ronny
• Stavropoulos John
• Topchy Alexander
• Zoldos John

Classifications

• H04L67/535

  Tracking the activity of the user (network monitoring arrangements H04L43/00; recording of computer activity G06F11/34) · CPC title

• H04L67/54

  Presence management, e.g. monitoring or registration for receipt of user log-on information, or the connection status of the users · CPC title

• H04N21/4394 Primary

  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

• H04N21/8358

  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

• H04L51/10

  Multimedia information · CPC title