Detection and prevention of inflated plays of audio or video content

• US 10,097,653 B2
• Filed: 05/03/2016
• Issued: 10/09/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 05/03/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Kassis, Ronit
• Primary Examiner(s): Khan, Aftab N.
• Application Number:
  US15/145,769
• Publication Number:
  US 20170324819A1
• Time in Patent Office: 889 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/613 for the control of the source by the destination control signals issued by the client directed to the server or network components specially adapted for selective content distribution H04N21/637
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/762 at the source reformatting of additional data in video distribution servers H04N21/2355
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/535 Tracking the activity of the user network monitoring arrangements H04L43/00; recording of computer activity G06F11/34
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/0039 where the data service is provided by a stream of packets which are rendered in real time by the receiving terminal network streaming of media packets H04L65/60
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/233 Processing of audio elementary streams monitoring, identification or recognition of audio in broadcast systems H04H60/58
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44204 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 Class Codes: H04N 21/44218 Detecting physical presence or behaviour of the user, e.g. using sensors to detect if the user is leaving the room or changes his face expression during a TV program methods or arrangements for recognising human body or animal bodies or body parts G06V40/10; methods or arrangements for acquiring or recognising human faces, facial parts, facial sketches, facial expressions G06V40/16; methods or arrangements for recognising movements or behaviour G06V40/20; arrangements for identifying users in broadcast systems H04H60/45

Abstract

Some listeners or viewers of online music or video may play the music or video repeatedly without actually listening to or watching the music or video, thereby wasting network resources, reducing bandwidths to other users, and slowing down or creating latency for the downloading of music or video by other users who actually listen to or watch the music or video. In some instances, owners of music or video content may encourage their fans to play the music or video repeatedly to increase their popularity ratings or copyright royalties. Inflated plays of music or video may be detected by applying one or more modifications to the music and monitoring for reactions by users, if any, to the modifications. The lack of a reaction by a user may indicate an inflated playback, whereas the presence of a reaction may indicate that the playback is legitimate.

Claims

1. A method of verifying whether a user is listening to an audible playback generated from audio content obtained from a multimedia streaming service, the method comprising:

applying, by a computing system, a modification to a portion of the audio content to trigger user inputs at a computing device associated with the user that are used to determine whether the user of the computing device is listening, via the computing device, to the audible playback generated from the audio content with the modification;

transmitting, by the computing system, to the computing device, the audio content with the modification;

receiving, by the computing system, from the computing device, an indication of at least one user input obtained by the computing device while the computing device outputs the audible playback generated from the audio content with the modification;

determining, by the computing system, based at least in part on the at least one user input, whether or not the user is actually listening, via the computing device, to the audible playback generated from the audio content with the modification;

responsive to determining that the user is not actually listening to the audible playback generated from the audio content with the modification, determining a quantity of warnings transmitted to the computing device when the multimedia streaming service determined the user was not actually listening to other audible playbacks; and

responsive to determining that the quantity of warnings exceeds a threshold, terminating, by the computing system, a connection between the computing device and the multimedia streaming service.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the audio content comprises an audio portion of a video stream or a song.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

responsive to determining that the quantity of warnings does not exceed the threshold, transmitting, to the computing device, for subsequent playback or display, a warning when the multimedia streaming service determines the user is not actually listening to the audible playback.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one user input is associated with at least one of:

an adjustment of an audio playback volume on the computing device;

a stopping of the audible playback on the computing device;

a reversing of the audible playback on the computing device;

a fast-forwarding of the audible playback on the computing device; and

a command to re-stream the audio content on the computing device.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one user input comprises at least one of:

a key input;

a button input;

a stylus input;

a touchscreen input; and

a voice input.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein applying the modification to the portion of the audio content comprises applying an audible distortion to the portion of the audio content.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the audible distortion comprises a distortion selected from at least one of:

a muting of the portion of the audio content;

a pause in the portion of the audio content;

a modification to a bit rate of the audible playback of the portion of the audio content;

a modification to a spectral content of the portion of the audio content;

an increase in a volume of the portion of the audio content;

a decrease in the volume of the portion of the audio content; and

an acoustic signal in the portion of the audio content.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the acoustic signal comprises a signal selected from at least one of:

a beep;

a buzz;

a ringtone; and

a noise.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one user input comprises an indication of movement of the computing device.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the movement is detected by a sensor of the computing device, the sensor comprising at least one of:

a magnetometer;

an accelerometer;

a gyroscope; and

a piezoelectric device.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the audio content is transmitted to an application executing at the computing device.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the application comprises an Internet browser.

13. A computing system comprising:

a memory comprising instructions; and

a processor communicably coupled to the memory, the processor configured to execute the instructions to;

apply a modification to a portion of an audio content to trigger user inputs at a computing device that are used to determine whether a user of the computing device is listening, via the computing device, to the audible playback generated from the audio content with the modification;

transmit, to the computing device, the audio content with the modification;

receive, from the computing device, an indication of at least one user input obtained by the computing device while the computing device outputs the audible playback generated from the audio content with the modification;

determine, based at least in part on the at least one user input, whether or not the user is actually listening, via the computing device, to the audible playback generated from the audio content with the modification;

responsive to determining that the user is not actually listening to the audible playback generated from the audio content with the modification, determine a quantity of warnings transmitted to the computing device when the multimedia streaming service determined the user was not actually listening to other audible playbacks; and

responsive to determining that the quantity of warnings exceeds a threshold, terminate a connection between the computing device and the multimedia streaming service.

14. The computing system of claim 13, wherein the audio content comprises an audio portion of a video stream or a song.

15. The computing system of claim 13, wherein the at least one user input is associated with at least one of:

an adjustment of an audio playback volume on the computing device;

a stopping of the audible playback on the computing device;

a reversing of the audible playback on the computing device;

a fast-forwarding of the audible playback on the computing device; and

a command to re-stream the audio content on the computing device.

16. The computing system of claim 13, wherein the at least one user input comprises at least one of:

a key input;

a button input;

a stylus input;

a touchscreen input; and

a voice input.

17. The computing system of claim 13, wherein the processor is configured to execute the instructions to apply the modification to the portion of the audio content by at least applying an audible distortion to the portion of the audio content.

18. The computing system of claim 17, wherein the audible distortion comprises a distortion selected from at least one of:

a muting of the portion of the audio content;

a pause in the portion of the audio content;

a modification to a bit rate of the audible playback of the portion of the audio content;

a modification to a spectral content of the portion of the audio content;

an increase in a volume of the portion of the audio content;

a decrease in the volume of the portion of the audio content; and

an acoustic signal in the portion of the audio content.

19. The computing system of claim 18, wherein the acoustic signal comprises a signal selected from at least one of:

a beep;

a buzz;

a ringtone; and

a noise.

20. The computing system of claim 13, wherein the at least one user input comprises an indication of movement of the computing device.

21. The computing system of claim 20, wherein the movement is detected by a sensor of the computing device, the sensor comprising at least one of:

a magnetometer;

an accelerometer;

a gyroscope; and

a piezoelectric device.

22. A non-transitory computer readable medium encoded with instructions that, when executed by at least one processor of a computing system, cause the at least one processor to:

apply a modification to a portion of an audio content to trigger user inputs at a computing device that are used to determine whether a user of the computing device is listening, via the computing device, to the audible playback generated from the audio content with the modification;

transmit, to the computing device, the audio content with the modification;

receive, from the computing device, an indication of at least one user input obtained by the computing device while the computing device outputs the audible playback generated from the audio content with the modification;

determine, based at least in part on the at least one user input, whether or not the user is actually listening, via the computing device, to the audible playback generated from the audio content with the modification;

responsive to determining that the user is not actually listening to the audible playback generated from the audio content with the modification, determine a quantity of warnings transmitted to the computing device when the multimedia streaming service determined the user was not actually listening to other audible playbacks; and

responsive to determining that the quantity of warnings exceeds a threshold, terminate a connection between the computing device and the multimedia streaming service.