Methods and apparatus for automatically identifying programs viewed or recorded
First Claim
1. A method of identifying a signal received by an audience member'"'"'s television receiver for determining audience ratings comprising the steps of:
- detecting the occurence of a first event in the functional operations of he audience namber'"'"'s televison receiver;
detecting the occurence of a second event after the detected first event in the signal to be identified;
extracting a signature from a single frame of the video signal to be identified after the occurrence of the second event;
storing the signature and the time of occurence thereof; and
comparing the stored signature with reference signatures that occurred at approximately the same time as the stored signature.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A method and apparatus for identifying programs such as television programs received from various sources detects the occurrence of predetermined events such as scene changes in a video signal and extracts a signature from the video signal. The signatures and the times of occurrence of the signatures are stored and subsequently compared with reference signatures to identify the program. The signatures may be compared in pairs to increase resolution, and the time interval between events or signatures may also be used to identify the program, either by themselves or in conjunction with the signatures.
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Citations
117 Claims
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1. A method of identifying a signal received by an audience member'"'"'s television receiver for determining audience ratings comprising the steps of:
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detecting the occurence of a first event in the functional operations of he audience namber'"'"'s televison receiver; detecting the occurence of a second event after the detected first event in the signal to be identified; extracting a signature from a single frame of the video signal to be identified after the occurrence of the second event; storing the signature and the time of occurence thereof; and comparing the stored signature with reference signatures that occurred at approximately the same time as the stored signature. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. A system for identifying program material received by an audience member'"'"'s televison receiver for determining audience ratings comprising:
- 15. means for detecting a first predetermined event in the functional operations of the audience member'"'"'s television receiver;
- 16. means for detecting a second predetermined event in the program material;
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17. means for extracting at least one predetermined characteristic of the program material from a single frame of a video signal;
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18. means for storing the predetermined characteristic and the time that the predetermined characteristic is extracted;
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- 19. means for comparing the recorded predtermined characteristic and its time of occurrence with reference predetermined characteristics that occured at substantially the same time to identify the program.
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20. A system for identifying a signal received by an audience member'"'"'s television receiver for determining audience ratings comprising:
- 21. means for detecting the occurrence of a first event in the functional operations of the audience member'"'"'s television receiver;
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22. means responsive to the detected first event for detecting the occurrence of a second event in the signal to be identified;
means for extracting a signature from a single frame of the video signal to be identified after the occurence of the second event; - View Dependent Claims (32, 42)
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23. means for storing the signature and the time of occurence thereof;
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24. means for comparing the stored signature with reference signatures that occur at approximately the same time as the stored signature.
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34. A system for identifying program material received by an audience member'"'"'s television receiver for determining audience ratings comprising:
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means for detecting a first predetermined event in the functional operations of the audience member'"'"'s television receiver; means responsive to the detected first predetermined event for detecting at least one second predetermined event in the programmed material; means for extracting at least one predetermined characteristic of the program material from a single frame of a video signal after the occurrence of a predetermined number of said first and second events; and means for recording the predetermined characteristic and the time of occurrence of the predetermined characteristic.
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37. A method for identifying signals for determining audience ratings comprising the steps of operating on the signal to be identified in order to extract a feature string, comparing the feature string with various feature strings corresponding to known signals and identifying the signal when the feature string of the signal to be identified correlates with one of the feature strings corresponding to a known signal within a predetermined tolerence, wherein the step of extracting the feature string from the signal to be identified comprises the steps of:
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monitoring predetermined changes in a predetermined parameter of the signal to be identified; determining the time intervals between the predetermined changes in the predetermined parameter; and utilizing the time intervals between successive predetermined changes to generate the feature string, the feature string being a digital representation of a predefined number of said time intervals. - View Dependent Claims (47, 57)
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58. In a system for identifying signals for determining audience ratings having means for operating on the signal to be identified in order to extract a feature string, means for comparing the feature string with various feature strings corresponding to known signals and for identifying the signal when the feature string of the signal to be identified correlates with one of the feature strings corresponding to a known signal within a predetermined tolerance, the improvement wherein the feature string extracting means comprises:
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means for monitoring predetermined changes in a predetermined parameter of the signal to be identified; means for determining the time intervals between the predetermined changes in the predetermined parameter; and means for utilizing the time intervals between successive predetermined changes to generate the feature string, the feature string being a digital representation of a predetermined number of said time intervals. - View Dependent Claims (68, 78)
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79. A system for identifying signals for determining audience ratings comprising:
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means for detecting the occurence of predetermined events in the signal; means responsive to said detecting means for determining the time intervals between successive occurences of said predetermined events; and means responsive to said time intervals for generating a signal identifying feature string in response to said time intervals, said signal identifying feature string being a digital representation of a predefined number of said time intervals.
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81. A method of identifying a television signal received from either a television receiver or a video recorder for determining audience viewing habits comprising the steps of:
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detecting predetermined operational modes of the audience member'"'"'s television receiver and the video recorder; detecting the occurence of a first event in one of the operational modes; detecting the occurence of a second event in the signal to be identified; extracting a signature from a single frame of the video signal to be identified after the occurence of the second event; and storing the extracted signature, the time of the signature extraction and the detected operational mode.
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97. A system for identifiying program material viewed on a television receiver or recorded by a video recorder for determining audience viewing habits comprising:
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means for detecting predetermined operational modes of the television receiver and the video recorder; means for detecting a first predetermined event in one of the operational modes; means for detecting a second predetermined event in the program material; means responsive to the detected predetermined operational modes for extracting a predetermined characteristic of the program material from a single frame of a video signal after the occurrence of said second predetermined event; and means for storing the predetermined characteristic, the time the predetermined characteristic is extracted and the detected predetermined operational mode.
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101. A system for identifying a television signal received from both a television receiver and a video recorder for determining audience viewing habits comprising:
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means for detecting predetermined changes in the operational modes of the television receiver and the video recorder; means for detecting the occurence of a first event in one of the operational modes; means responsive to both the detection of a first event and a detected viewing operational mode for detecting the occurrence of a second event in the signal to be identified; means responsive to a detected recording operational mode for detecting the occurence of a second event in the signal to be identified; means responsive to the detection of a second event for extracting a signature from a single frame of the video signal to be identified after the occurence of the second event; and means for storing the extracted signature and the detected operational mode. - View Dependent Claims (111, 113)
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114. In a system for identifying programs viewed on a television receiver, wherein the programs are obtained from a video recorder and from an external program source, the improvement comprising:
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means responsive to the on/off condition of the television; means responsive to the on/off condition and the play/record condition of the video recorder; logic means responsive to the television condition responsive means and the video recorder condition responsive means for providing an indication if the program being viewed is being obtained from the video recorder or from the external program source; means for identifying the program being viewed, said identifying means being responsive to said logic means and operative to identify said program according to two different criteria depending on whether the program being viewed is obtained from the external program source or form the video recorder.
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116. In a system for determining the viewing habits of a household having a video recorder capable of recording programs obtained from an external program source and playing video programs, and a television receiver for viewing programs obtained from the external program source and from the video recorder, said system having a home unit and a central unit, the improvement comprising:
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means responsive to predetermined operating conditions of said television receiver and said video recorder to provide signals representative of television viewing, recording, and playback; means for detecting during viewing a first predetermined event in the program material; means responsive to the detection of said first predetermined event for detecting during viewing a second predetermined event in the program material; means responsive to the detection of said second predetermined event for extracting during viewing at least one predetermined characteristic of the program material; means for storing at the home unit the predetermined characteristic of the viewed program material and the time that the predetermined characteristic is extracted; means for continuously detecting during recording the second predetermined events in the program material; means responsive to the detection of said second predetermined events for extracting during recording at least one predetermined characteristic of the program material; means for storing during recording the predetermined characteristics and the times that the predetermined characteristics are extracted; means for comparing the predetermined characteristics stored during viewing and recording and their times of occurrence with reference predetermined characteristics stored in the central unit that occurred at substantially the same time to identify the programs viewed and recorded; means for detecting during playback the first predetermined event in the program material; means responsive to the detection of said first predetermined event for detecting during playback the second predetermined event in the program material; means responsive to the detection of said second predetermined event for extracting during playback at least one predetermined characteristic of the program material; means for recording during playback the predetermined characteristic; and means for comparing the predetermined characteristic recorded during playback with reference predetermined characteristics stored at the central unit at the time of recording to identify the program.
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117. In a system for determining the viewing habits of a household having a video recorder and a television receiver, said system having a home unit and a central unit, the improvement comprising:
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means responsive to predetermined parameters of said television receiver and said video recorder to provide signals representative of television viewing, playback and recording; means for detecting during viewing a first predetermined event in the program material; means responsive to the detection of said first predetermined event for detecting during viewing a second predetermined event in the program material; means responsive to the detection of said second predtermined event for extracting during viewing at least one predetermined characteristic of the program material; means at the home unit for storing during viewing the predetermined characteristic and the time that the predetemined characteristic is extracted; means for continuously detecting during recording the second predetermined events in the program material; means responsive to the detection of said second predetermined events for extracting during recording at least one predetermined characteristic of the program material; means at the home unit for storing during recording the predetermined characteristics and the times of occurrence thereof; means at the home unit for determining time intervals between the detached predetermined second events during recording; means for detecting during playback the second predetermined events in the program material; means responsive to the detection of said second predetermined events for extracting during playback at least one predetermined characteristic of the program material; means at the home unit for determining time intervals between the detected predetermined second events during playback; means at the home unit for comparing the time intervals between the detected events during playback and the time intervals between the events stored during recording; and means responsive to a match provided by the comparing means for comparing the predetermined characteristics extracted during recording with reference characteristics stored in the central unit to identify the program.
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Specification