Methods and apparatus to perform audio watermarking and watermark detection and extraction

• US 10,134,408 B2
• Filed: 10/21/2016
• Issued: 11/20/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 10/24/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: The Nielsen Company LLC (MOOD Media Corporation)
• Original Assignee: The Nielsen Company LLC (MOOD Media Corporation)
• Inventors: Srinivasan, Venugopal, Topchy, Alexander Pavlovich
• Primary Examiner(s): Dorvil, Richemond
• Assistant Examiner(s): Villena, Mark
• Application Number:
  US15/331,168
• Publication Number:
  US 20170061975A1
• Time in Patent Office: 760 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 19/018 Audio watermarking, i.e. embedding inaudible data in the audio signal
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 19/0208 Subband vocoders
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 19/173 Transcoding, i.e. converting between two coded representations avoiding cascaded coding-decoding
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 20/10 Digital recording or reproducing
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 20/31 using in-band signals, e.g. subsonic or cue signal
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/37 for identifying segments of broadcast information, e.g. scenes or extracting programme ID
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/58 of audio determination or detection of speech characteristics in general G10L25/00; speech recognition in general G10L15/00

Abstract

Methods and apparatus to audio watermarking and watermark detection and extracted are described herein. According to an example method, an identifier is encoded in media content when a different identifier has been previously encoded. According to another example method, messages decoded from media content are validated to provide improved decoding accuracy. In another example method, decoded symbols are stored in memory and synchronization symbols are located to detect a message encoded in media content.

Claims

1. A method to transform media to include an encoding, the method comprising:

detecting, by executing an instruction with a processor, a first encoding in received audio samples, the first encoding including a first synchronization symbol and symbols of a first identification code, the first encoding having been encoded based on a first mapping correlating the symbols of the first encoding with a first set of frequencies of the audio samples to be modified to encode the first synchronization symbol and the symbols of the first identification code in the audio samples;

in response to the detection of the first encoding, generating, by executing an instruction with the processor, a pre-existing code flag including a pre-existing code flag synchronization symbol and symbols of a second identification code, the pre-existing code flag generated based on a second mapping correlating the pre-existing code flag synchronization symbol and the symbols of the second identification code with a second set of frequencies of the audio samples to be modified to encode the pre-existing code flag synchronization symbol and the symbols of the second identification code in the audio samples, the second mapping including at least some symbol to frequency correlations different from the first mapping; and

encoding, by executing an instruction with the processor, the pre-existing code flag in the audio samples to transform the audio samples into encoded audio samples including the first encoding and the pre-existing code flag.

2. The method as defined in claim 1, further comprising storing, by executing an instruction with the processor, the encoded audio samples in tangible memory.

3. The method as defined in claim 1, wherein the first identification code is included in the first encoding at a first time and in a second encoding at a second time, and the second identification code is encoded between the first encoding and the second encoding.

4. The method as defined in claim 3, wherein the encoding of the pre-existing code flag includes encoding the pre-existing code flag synchronization symbol between the first time of the first encoding and the second time of the second encoding.

5. The method as defined in claim 1, wherein the second identification code is encoded by:

identifying frequencies in the second set of frequencies corresponding to the second identification code; and

emphasizing the frequencies in the second set of frequencies.

6. The method as defined in claim 5, wherein the emphasizing of the frequencies includes:

generating a code signal having a frequency from the set of frequencies emphasized; and

adding the code signal to the audio samples.

7. The method as defined in claim 1, wherein the first identification code is to identify a first media distributor that broadcast media of the audio samples at a first time and the second identification code is to identify a second media distributor that broadcast the media at a second time later than the first time.

8. An apparatus to transform media to include an encoding, the apparatus comprising:

a prior code detector to detect a first encoding in received audio samples, the first encoding including a first synchronization symbol and symbols a first identification code, the first encoding having been encoded based on a first mapping that correlates the symbols of the first encoding with a first set of frequencies of the audio samples to be modified to encode the first synchronization symbol and the symbols of the first identification code in the audio samples;

a code signal synthesizer to, in response to the detection of the first encoding, generate a pre-existing code flag including a pre-existing code flag synchronization symbol and symbols of a second identification code, the pre-existing code flag generated based on a second mapping that correlates the pre-existing code flag synchronization symbol and symbols of the second identification code with a second set of frequencies of the audio samples to be modified to encode the pre-existing code flag synchronization symbol and the symbols of the second identification code in the audio samples, the second mapping including at least some symbol to frequency correlations different from the first mapping; and

a mixer to combine the pre-existing code flag and the audio samples to transform the audio samples into encoded audio samples including the first encoding and the pre-existing code flag.

9. The apparatus as defined in claim 8, wherein the mixer is further to store the encoded audio samples in tangible memory.

10. The apparatus as defined in claim 8, wherein the first identification code is included in the first encoding at a first time and in a second encoding at a second time, and the second identification code is encoded between the first encoding and the second encoding.

11. The apparatus as defined in claim 10, wherein the mixer is to combine the pre-existing code flag synchronization symbol and the audio samples between the first time of the first encoding and the second time of the second encoding.

12. The apparatus as defined in claim 8, wherein the first encoded identification code is to identify a first media distributor that broadcast media of the audio samples at a first time and the second encoded identification code is to identify a second media distributor that broadcast the media at a second time later than the first time.

13. The apparatus as defined in claim 8, wherein the second identification code is encoded by emphasized frequencies in the second set of frequencies identified as corresponding to the second identification code.

14. At least one of a storage device or storage disk comprising instructions that, when executed, cause a machine to at least:

detect a first encoding in received audio samples, the first encoding including a first synchronization symbol and symbols of a first identification code, the first encoding having been encoded based on a first mapping that correlates the symbols of the first encoding with a first set of frequencies of the audio samples to be modified to encode the first synchronization symbol and the symbols of the first identification code in the audio samples;

in response to the detection of the first encoding, generate a pre-existing code flag including a pre-existing code flag synchronization symbol and symbols of a second identification code, the pre-existing code flag generated based on a second mapping that correlates the pre-existing code flag synchronization symbol and the symbols of the second identification code with a second set of frequencies of the audio samples to be modified to encode the pre-existing code flag synchronization symbol and the symbols of the second identification code in the audio samples, the second mapping including at least some symbol to frequency correlations different from the first correlating; and

encode the pre-existing code flag in the audio samples to transform the audio samples into encoded audio samples including the first encoding and the pre-existing code flag.

15. The at least one of the storage device or storage disk as defined in claim 14, wherein the instructions further cause the machine to store the encoded audio samples in a tangible memory.

16. The at least one of the storage device or storage disk as defined in claim 14, wherein the first identification code is included in the first encoding at a first time and in a second encoding at a second time, and the second identification code is encoded between the first encoding and the second encoding.

17. The at least one of the storage device or storage disk as defined in claim 16, wherein the instructions, when executed, further cause the machine to encode the pre-existing code flag synchronization symbol between the first time of the first encoding and the first time of the second encoding.

18. The at least one of the storage device or storage disk as defined in claim 14, wherein the instructions, when executed, further cause the machine to:

identify frequencies of the second set of frequencies corresponding to the second identification code; and

emphasize the identified frequencies in the second set of frequencies.

19. The at least one of the storage device or storage disk as defined in claim 18, wherein the instructions, when executed, further cause the machine to:

generate at least one code signal having at least one frequency from the identified frequencies in the second set of frequencies amplified; and

add the at least one code signal to the audio samples.

20. The at least one of a storage device or storage disk as defined in claim 14, wherein the first identification code is to identify a first media distributor that broadcast media of the audio samples at a first time and the second identification code is to identify a second media distributor that broadcast the media at a second time later than the first time.