Method and apparatus for encoding/decoding broadcast or recorded segments and monitoring audience exposure thereto
First Claim
1. A method for detecting encoded information in broadcast or recorded audio signals, comprising the steps of:
- receiving an encoded broadcast or recorded segment signal including an audio signal portion having an encoded identification signal, the encoded identification signal being produced by modulating a first code signal having a predetermined nonzero bandwidth and not derived from the audio signal portion with an identification signal having a narrower bandwidth than the predetermined nonzero bandwidth of the first code signal, correlating the audio signal portion with a second code signal corresponding to the first code signal and not derived from the audio signal portion to produce a correlated signal, and recovering the identification signal from the correlated signal.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Methods and apparatus for encoding and decoding information in broadcast or recorded segment signals are described. In certain embodiments, an audience monitoring system encodes identification information in the audio signal portion of a broadcast or recorded segment using spread spectrum encoding. A personal monitoring device receives an acoustically reproduced version of the broadcast or recorded signal via a microphone, decodes the identification information from the audio signal portion despite significant ambient noise, and stores this information, automatically providing a diary for the audience member which is later uploaded to a centralized facility. A separate monitoring device decodes additional information from the broadcast signal, which is matched with the audience diary information at the central facility. This monitor may simultaneously send data to the centralized facility using a dial-up telephone line, and receive data from the centralized facility through a signal encoded using a spread spectrum technique and modulated with a broadcast signal from a third-party.
817 Citations
110 Claims
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1. A method for detecting encoded information in broadcast or recorded audio signals, comprising the steps of:
- receiving an encoded broadcast or recorded segment signal including an audio signal portion having an encoded identification signal, the encoded identification signal being produced by modulating a first code signal having a predetermined nonzero bandwidth and not derived from the audio signal portion with an identification signal having a narrower bandwidth than the predetermined nonzero bandwidth of the first code signal, correlating the audio signal portion with a second code signal corresponding to the first code signal and not derived from the audio signal portion to produce a correlated signal, and recovering the identification signal from the correlated signal.
- View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 85, 87, 89)
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15. A method for detecting encoded information in broadcast or recorded audio signals, comprising the steps of:
- transducing an acoustically reproduced audio signal portion of an encoded broadcast or recorded segment signal to produce a transduced audio signal portion, the audio signal portion having an encoded identification signal produced by modulating a first code signal having a predetermined nonzero bandwidth and not derived from the audio signal portion with an identification signal having a narrower bandwidth than the predetermined nonzero bandwidth, the encoded identification signal being imperceptible as information in the acoustically reproduced audio signal portion, correlating the transduced audio signal portion with a second code signal corresponding to the first code signal and not derived from the audio signal portion to produce a correlated signal, and recovering the identification signal from the correlated signal.
- View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25)
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26. A method for determining a source or sources of at least one copyrighted work included in broadcast or recorded audio signals, comprising the steps of:
- receiving an encoded broadcast or recorded segment signal including at least one copyrighted work, the at least one copyrighted work including an audio signal portion having an encoded identification signal indicating a source of the at least one copyrighted work, the encoded identification signal being produced by modulating a first code signal having a predetermined nonzero bandwidth and not derived from the audio signal portion with an identification signal having a narrower bandwidth than the predetermined nonzero bandwidth, correlating the audio signal portion with a second code signal corresponding to the first code signal and not derived from the audio signal portion to produce a correlated signal, recovering the identification signal from the correlated signal, and assembling data representing the source or sources of the at least one copyrighted work.
- View Dependent Claims (27, 28, 91)
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29. A method for determining a source or sources of at least one commercial advertisement in broadcast or recorded audio signals, comprising the steps of:
- receiving an encoded broadcast or recorded segment signal including at least one commercial advertisement, the at least one commercial advertisement including an audio signal portion having an encoded identification signal indicating a source of the at least one commercial advertisement, the encoded identification signal being produced by modulating a first code signal having a predetermined nonzero bandwidth and not derived from the audio signal portion with an identification signal having a narrower bandwidth than the predetermined nonzero bandwidth, correlating the audio signal portion with a second code signal corresponding to the first code signal and not derived from the audio signal portion to produce a correlated signal, recovering the identification signal from the correlated signal, and assembling data representing the source or sources of the at least one commercial advertisement.
- View Dependent Claims (30, 31)
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32. A method of encoding information in audio signals to be broadcast or recorded, comprising the steps of:
- modulating a first code signal having a predetermined nonzero bandwidth and a plurality of frequency components simultaneously present therein with an identification signal having a narrower bandwidth than the predetermined nonzero bandwidth to produce an encoded identification signal having a broader bandwidth than the identification signal, and mixing the encoded identification signal with an audio signal to be broadcast or recorded to produce an output signal.
- View Dependent Claims (33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 93, 95, 97)
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41. A method of encoding information in audio signals to be broadcast or recorded and detecting the encoded information therein, comprising the steps of:
- modulating a first code signal having a predetermined nonzero bandwidth with an identification signal having a narrower bandwidth than the predetermined nonzero bandwidth to produce an encoded signal, mixing the encoded identification signal with an audio signal to produce an output signal, the first code signal not being derived from the audio signal, transducing the output signal in acoustically reproduced form in which the encoded identification signal is imperceptible as information by a listener to produce a transduced signal, correlating the transduced signal with a second code signal corresponding to the first code signal and not derived from the audio signal to produce a correlated signal, recovering the identification signal from the correlated signal, and storing the recovered identification signal as stored data.
- View Dependent Claims (42)
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43. An apparatus for detecting encoded information in broadcast or recorded audio signals, comprising:
- means for receiving an encoded broadcast or recorded segment signal including an audio signal portion having an encoded identification signal, the encoded identification signal being produced by modulating a first code signal having a predetermined nonzero bandwidth and not derived from the audio signal portion with an identification signal having a narrower bandwidth than the predetermined nonzero bandwidth, means for correlating the audio signal portion with a second code signal corresponding to the first code signal and not derived from the audio signal portion to produce a correlated signal, and means for recovering the identification signal from the correlated signal.
- View Dependent Claims (44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 86, 88, 90)
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57. An apparatus for detecting encoded information in broadcast or recorded audio signals, comprising:
- means for transducing an acoustically reproduced audio signal portion of an encoded broadcast or recorded segment signal to produce a transduced audio signal portion, the audio signal portion having an encoded identification signal produced by modulating a first code signal having a predetermined nonzero bandwidth and not derived from the audio signal portion with an identification signal having a narrower bandwidth than the predetermined nonzero bandwidth, the encoded identification signal being imperceptible as information in the acoustically reproduced audio signal portion, means for correlating the transduced audio signal portion with a second code signal corresponding to the first code signal and not derived from the audio signal portion to produce a correlated signal, and means for recovering the identification signal from the correlated signal.
- View Dependent Claims (58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67)
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68. An apparatus for determining a source or sources of at least one copyrighted work included in broadcast or recorded audio signals, comprising:
- means for receiving an encoded broadcast or recorded segment signal including at least one copyrighted work, the at least one copyrighted work including an audio signal portion having an encoded identification signal indicating a source of said at least one copyrighted work, the encoded identification signal being produced by modulating a first code signal having a predetermined nonzero bandwidth and not derived from the audio signal portion with an identification signal having a narrower bandwidth than the predetermined nonzero bandwidth, means for correlating the audio signal portion with a second code signal corresponding to the first code signal and not derived from the audio signal portion to produce a correlated signal, means for recovering the identification signal from the correlated signal, and means for assembling data representing the source or sources of the at least one copyrighted work.
- View Dependent Claims (69, 70, 92)
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71. An apparatus for determining a source or sources of at least one commercial advertisement in broadcast or recorded audio signals, comprising:
- means for receiving an encoded broadcast or recorded segment signal including at least one commercial advertisement, the at least one commercial advertisement including an audio signal portion having an encoded identification signal indicating a source of the at least one commercial advertisement, the encoded identification signal being produced by modulating a first code signal having a predetermined nonzero bandwidth and not derived from the audio signal portion with an identification signal having a narrower bandwidth than the predetermined nonzero bandwidth, means for correlating the audio signal portion with a second code signal corresponding with the first code signal and not derived from the audio signal portion to produce a correlated signal, means for recovering the identification signal from the correlated signal, and means for assembling data representing the source or sources of the at least one commercial advertisement.
- View Dependent Claims (72, 73)
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74. An apparatus for encoding information in audio signals to be broadcast or recorded, comprising:
- means for modulating a first code signal having a predetermined nonzero bandwidth and a plurality of frequency components simultaneously present therein with an identification signal having a narrower bandwidth than the predetermined nonzero bandwidth to produce an encoded identification signal having a broader bandwidth than the identification signal, and means for mixing the encoded identification signal with an audio signal to be broadcast or recorded to produce an output signal.
- View Dependent Claims (75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 94, 96, 98)
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83. An apparatus for encoding information in audio signals to be broadcast or recorded and detecting the encoded information therein, comprising:
- means for modulating a first code signal having a predetermined nonzero bandwidth with an identification signal having a narrower bandwidth than the predetermined nonzero bandwidth to produce an encoded signal, means for mixing the encoded identification signal with an audio signal to produce an output signal, the first code signal not being derived from the audio signal, means for transducing the output signal in acoustically reproduced form in which the encoded identification signal is imperceptible as information by a listener to produce a transduced signal, means for correlating the transduced signal with a second code signal corresponding to the first code signal and not derived from the audio signal to produce a correlated signal, means for recovering the identification signal from the correlated signal, and means for storing the recovered identification signal as stored data.
- View Dependent Claims (84)
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99. An encoded broadcast signal produced by:
- providing a broadcast signal including an audio signal, modulating a code signal having a predetermined nonzero bandwidth and a plurality of frequency components simultaneously present therein with an identification signal having a narrower bandwidth than the predetermined nonzero bandwidth to produce an encoded identification signal having a broader bandwidth than the identification signal, and mixing the encoded identification signal with the audio signal to produce the encoded broadcast signal.
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100. An encoded recorded signal produced by:
- providing a signal to be recorded including an audio signal, modulating a code signal having a predetermined nonzero bandwidth and a plurality of frequency components simultaneously present therein with an identification signal having a narrower bandwidth than the predetermined nonzero bandwidth to produce an encoded identification signal having a broader bandwidth than the identification signal, mixing the encoded identification signal with the audio signal to produce an encoded recording signal, and recording the encoded recording signal to produce the encoded recorded signal.
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101. A method of encoding information in audio signals to be broadcast or recorded, comprising the steps of:
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receiving an identification signal including received identification symbols; providing a memory means containing digital data representing groups of frequencies each corresponding to a respective one of the received identification symbols; for each of the received identification symbols, reading digital data representing the corresponding group of frequencies from the memory means to produce an encoded signal; and mixing the encoded signal with the audio signal to be broadcast or recorded to produce an output signal. - View Dependent Claims (102, 103, 104, 105)
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106. An apparatus for encoding information in audio signals to be broadcast or recorded, comprising:
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means for receiving an identification signal including received identification symbols; memory means for storing digital data representing plural groups of frequencies, each of the plural groups of frequencies corresponding to a respective one of the received identification symbols; means for reading from the memory means digital data representing a respective one of the plural groups of frequencies in response to each of the identification symbols to produce an encoded signal; and means for mixing the encoded signal with the audio signal to be broadcast or recorded to produce an output signal. - View Dependent Claims (107, 108, 109, 110)
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Specification