Methods and apparatus to distinguish a signal originating from a local device from a broadcast signal

• US 7,643,090 B2
• Filed: 12/10/2004
• Issued: 01/05/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 12/30/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nielsen Company (US), LLC
• Original Assignee: The Nielsen Company LLC (MOOD Media Corporation)
• Inventors: Nelson, Dan, Ramaswamy, Arun
• Primary Examiner(s): LEE, MICHAEL
• Application Number:
  US10/596,858
• Publication Number:
  US 20070211170A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,852 Days
• Field of Search: 348/180, 348/738, 348/722, 348552-558, 348/705, 348/706, 725/9, 725 14- 21
• US Class Current: 348/558
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/31 Arrangements for monitoring the use made of the broadcast services
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/58 of audio determination or detection of speech characteristics in general G10L25/00; speech recognition in general G10L15/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/59 of video recognising characters or patterns in general G06F18/00, G06V20/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 17/00 Diagnosis, testing or measuring for television systems or their details
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4394 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 Class Codes: H04N 21/44008 involving operations for analysing video streams, e.g. detecting features or characteristics in the video stream arrangements characterised by components specially adapted for monitoring, identification or recognition of video in broadcast systems H04H60/59

Abstract

Methods and apparatus to distinguish a signal originating from a local device from a broadcast signal are disclosed. A disclosed system classifies a video component of an audio-video signal by analyzing a histogram of pixel data, analyzing a quality factor, and/or attempting to detect embedded data in the video component. The disclosed system also classifies an audio component of the audio-video signal by attempting to detect embedded audio data and/or analyzing waveform energy associated with the audio component. A source of the audio-video signal is determined based on the video classification and/or the audio classification.

Claims

1. A method of distinguishing an audio-video signal originating from a local device from a broadcast signal, the method comprising:

classifying a video component of the audio-video signal by at least one of analyzing a histogram of pixel data, analyzing a quality factor, or attempting to detect embedded data in the video component;

classifying an audio component of the audio-video signal by at least one of attempting to detect embedded audio data or analyzing waveform energy associated with the audio component; and

determining a source of the audio-video signal based on at least one of the video classification or the audio classification, wherein determining the source of the audio-video component comprises combining values associated with the video classification with values associated with the audio classification.

2. A method of distinguishing an audio-video signal originating from a local device from a broadcast signal, the method comprising:

classifying a video component of the audio-video signal by at least one of analyzing a histogram of pixel data, analyzing a quality factor, or attempting to detect embedded data in the video component;

classifying an audio component of the audio-video signal by at least one of attempting to detect embedded audio data or analyzing waveform energy associated with the audio component; and

determining a source of the audio-video signal based on at least one of the video classification or the audio classification, wherein determining the source of the audio-video signal comprises;

applying weighting values to the video classification and the audio classification;

combining the weighted video classification and the weighted audio classification to create a combined result; and

comparing the combined result to a predetermined threshold.

3. An apparatus for distinguishing an audio-video signal originating from a local device from a broadcast signal, the apparatus comprising:

at least two of;

(a) an active video analyzer to classify a video component of the audio-video signal by at least one of analyzing a histogram of pixel data or analyzing a quality factor;

(b) a vertical blanking interval analyzer to classify the video component of the audio-video signal by attempting to detect embedded video data;

(c) a text extractor to at least one of detect text characters in the video component of the audio-video signal or extract text characters in the video component of the audio-video signal; and

(d) an audio analyzer to classify an audio component of the audio-video signal by at least one of detecting embedded audio data or analyzing an audio waveform'"'"'s energy; and

a decision module to determine a source of the audio-video signal based on outputs of the at least two of the active video analyzer, the vertical blanking interval analyzer, the text extractor, and the audio analyzer, wherein the vertical blanking interval analyzer is configured to detect at least one of closed captioning data, interactive television triggers, or metering data.

4. An apparatus for distinguishing an audio-video signal originating from a local device from a broadcast signal, the apparatus comprising:

at least two of;

(a) an active video analyzer to classify a video component of the audio-video signal by at least one of analyzing a histogram of pixel data or analyzing a quality factor;

(b) a vertical blanking interval analyzer to classify the video component of the audio-video signal by attempting to detect embedded video data;

(c) a text extractor to at least one of detect text characters in the video component of the audio-video signal or extract text characters in the video component of the audio-video signal; and

(d) an audio analyzer to classify an audio component of the audio-video signal by at least one of detecting embedded audio data or analyzing an audio waveform'"'"'s energy; and

a decision module to determine a source of the audio-video signal based on outputs of the at least two of the active video analyzer, the vertical blanking interval analyzer, the text extractor, and the audio analyzer, wherein the text extractor is configured to compare extracted text characters to known text characters.

5. An apparatus for distinguishing an audio-video signal originating from a local device from a broadcast signal, the apparatus comprising:

at least two of;

(a) an active video analyzer to classify a video component of the audio-video signal by at least one of analyzing a histogram of pixel data or analyzing a quality factor;

(b) a vertical blanking interval analyzer to classify the video component of the audio-video signal by attempting to detect embedded video data;

(c) a text extractor to at least one of detect text characters in the video component of the audio-video signal or extract text characters in the video component of the audio-video signal; and

(d) an audio analyzer to classify an audio component of the audio-video signal by at least one of detecting embedded audio data or analyzing an audio waveform'"'"'s energy; and

a decision module to determine a source of the audio-video signal based on outputs of the at least two of the active video analyzer, the vertical blanking interval analyzer, the text extractor, and the audio analyzer, wherein the decision module is configured to;

assign a weighting value to each received output;

combine the weighted output values to form a combined value; and

compare the combined value to a predetermined threshold to determine the source of the signal.