Display device on/off detection methods and apparatus

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12301784-B2
Application number	US-202318494478-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 25, 2023
Priority date	Aug 16, 2005
Publication date	May 13, 2025
Grant date	May 13, 2025

Abstract

Display device ON/OFF detection methods and apparatus are disclosed. Example display activity detectors disclosed herein are to extract regions from respective ones of captured video frames, the regions corresponding to a depiction of a display of a monitored media device Disclosed example display activity detectors are also to compute a distance metric that is to represent an amount a first one of the regions of a first one of the captured video frames differs from a corresponding second one of the regions of a second one of the captured video frames. Disclosed example display activity detectors are further to compare the distance metric to a threshold to determine whether the monitored media device is ON or OFF.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method, comprising:
generating an audio signature based on an audio signal of media content presented on a presentation device;
determining that an operating state of the presentation device is an ON state based on an indication that the audio signature matches a reference signature of a set of reference signatures corresponding to a set of known media content; and
augmenting a viewing record of the media content based on the audio signature matching the reference signature.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
providing the ON state of the presentation device to a metering unit coupled to the presentation device and which monitors the media content presented on the presentation device.

3. The method of claim 2 , further comprising:
generating, at the metering unit, viewing records including the viewing record of the media content presented on the presentation device; and
transmitting, from the metering unit, the viewing records to a data processing facility.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the viewing record is representative of a determination, by the metering unit, that the media content was presented on the presentation device.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining that the audio signal is not indicative of silence or background noise, wherein the determining that the operating state of the presentation device is the ON state is based further on the determining that the audio signal is not indicative of silence or background noise.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining that an audio gain level does not exceed an audio gain threshold, wherein the determining that the operating state of the presentation device is the ON state is based further on the determining that the audio gain level does not exceed the audio gain threshold.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein generating the audio signature comprises detecting, at an audio sensor, the audio signal of the media content.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the audio sensor is a microphone.

9. A computing system comprising:
a sensor configured to detect an audio signal based on an audio output of a presentation device;
at least one memory storing computer-readable instructions; and
at least one processor configured to execute the computer-readable instructions to perform operations comprising:
generating an audio signature based on the audio signal of media content presented on the presentation device;
determining that an operating state of the presentation device is an ON state based on an indication that the audio signature matches a reference signature of a set of reference signatures corresponding to a set of known media content; and
augmenting a viewing record of the media content based on the audio signature matching the reference signature.

10. The computing system of claim 9 , the operations further comprising:
providing the ON state of the presentation device to a metering unit coupled to the presentation device and which monitors the media content presented on the presentation device.

11. The computing system of claim 10 , the operations further comprising:
generating, at the metering unit, viewing records including the viewing record of the media content presented on the presentation device; and
transmitting, from the metering unit, the viewing records to a data processing facility.

12. The computing system of claim 11 , wherein the viewing record is representative of a determination, by the metering unit, that the media content was presented on the presentation device.

13. The computing system of claim 9 , the operations further comprising:
determining that the audio signal is not indicative of silence or background noise, wherein the determining that the operating state of the presentation device is the ON state further is based further on determining that the audio signal is not indicative of silence or background noise.

14. The computing system of claim 9 , the operations further comprising:
determining that an audio gain level does not exceed an audio gain threshold, wherein the determining that the operating state of the presentation device is the ON state is based further on determining that the audio gain level used does not exceed the audio gain threshold.

15. The computing system of claim 9 , wherein generating the audio signature comprises detecting, at the sensor, the audio signal of the media content.

16. The computing system of claim 15 , wherein the sensor is a microphone.

17. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-readable instructions that, when executed, cause at least one processor to perform operations comprising:
generating an audio signature based on an audio signal of media content presented on a presentation device;
determining that an operating state of the presentation device is an ON state based on an indication that the audio signature matches a reference signature of a set of reference signatures corresponding to a set of known media content; and
augmenting a viewing record of the media content based on the audio signature matching the reference signature.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 17 , the operations further comprising:
generating, at a metering unit, viewing records including the viewing record of the media content regarding presented on the presentation device; and
transmitting, from the metering unit, the viewing records to a data processing facility.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 17 , wherein generating the audio signature comprises detecting, at an audio sensor, the audio signal of the media content.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 19 , wherein the audio sensor is a microphone.

Assignees

• Nielsen Co Us Llc

Inventors

• Nielsen Christen V
• Nelson Dan

Classifications

• 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

• H04H60/32

  Arrangements for monitoring conditions of receiving stations, e.g. malfunction or breakdown of receiving stations · CPC title

• H04N17/04 Primary

  for receivers · CPC title