Methods and apparatus for media source identification and time shifted media consumption measurements

• US 8,006,258 B2
• Filed: 12/11/2009
• Issued: 08/23/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 11/22/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: The Nielsen Company LLC (MOOD Media Corporation)
• Original Assignee: The Nielsen Company LLC (MOOD Media Corporation)
• Inventors: Ramaswamy, Arun
• Primary Examiner(s): YENKE, BRIAN P
• Application Number:
  US12/636,505
• Publication Number:
  US 20100153982A1
• Time in Patent Office: 620 Days
• Field of Search: 725/9, 725/14, 725/16, 725/19, 725/20, 725/21, 725/80, 725/85, 725/87, 725/133, 725/141, 725/153, 386/1, 386/45, 386/46, 386/125, 386/126
• US Class Current: 725/9
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 2201/90 characterised by the use of signatures
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/40 for identifying broadcast time
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/44 for identifying broadcast stations
• 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: H04N 21/266 Channel or content management, e.g. generation and management of keys and entitlement messages in a conditional access system, merging a VOD unicast channel into a multicast channel
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4325 by playing back content from the storage medium reproduction of recorded television signals H04N5/76; reproduction of recorded television signals H04N9/79
• 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 21/6582 Data stored in the client, e.g. viewing habits, hardware capabilities, credit card number arrangements where receivers interact with the broadcast H04H20/38
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/835 Generation of protective data, e.g. certificates protecting software against unauthorised usage in a vending or licensing environment G06F21/10

Abstract

Methods and apparatus for media source identification and time shifted media consumption measurements are disclosed. A disclosed method identifies a time shift associated with one of a plurality of media sources local to a media delivery device by generating a library of first signature information local to the media delivery device, wherein the library of first signature information includes records, each of which contains a time stamp, a signature value and a source identifier associated with a respective one of the plurality of media sources, generating second signature information based on media presented via the media delivery device, generating a collection of matching signature information based on the first and second signature information, and performing a time shift analysis on the collection of matching signature information to identify the time shift associated with the one of the plurality of media sources local to the media delivery device.

Claims

1. A method of identifying a time shift associated with one of a plurality of media sources local to a media delivery device, comprising:

generating a library of first signature information local to the media delivery device, wherein the library of first signature information includes records, each of which contains a time stamp, a signature value and a source identifier associated with a respective one of the plurality of media sources;

generating second signature information based on media presented via the media delivery device;

generating a collection of matching signature information based on the first and second signature information; and

performing, using a processor, a time shift analysis on the collection of matching signature information to identify the time shift associated with the one of the plurality of media sources local to the media delivery device, wherein the first signature information is associated with a first media source communicatively coupled to the media delivery device, and wherein the second signature information includes a second time stamp, a second signature value and a source identifier associated with a second media source communicatively coupled to the media delivery device.

2. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein the first and second media sources include at least one of a personal video recorder, a digital versatile disk player, a digital video recorder, a video cassette recorder, a set-top box, or a game console.

3. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein the time shift is based on a difference between time stamps.

4. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein the first and second media sources are the same media source.

5. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein performing the time shift analysis includes identifying records in the collection of matching signature information having substantially identical signature values and substantially different time stamp values.

6. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein performing the time shift analysis comprises identifying delayed presentation of media presented via the media delivery device.

7. A method as defined in claim 1, further comprising updating the library of first signature information local to the media delivery device.

8. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein the library is at least one of an XML file, a database file, or a file associated with a hash table of first signature information.

9. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein the media presented via the media delivery device includes at least one of a broadcast television program, a broadcast radio program, a game, or a web page.

11. An apparatus as defined in claim 1, wherein the processor is programmed to identify one of the plurality of media sources by identifying the time shift associated with the one of the plurality of media sources.

10. An apparatus for identifying a time shift associated with one of a plurality of media sources local to a media delivery device, comprising:

a memory; and

a processor coupled to the memory and programmed to;

generate a library of first signature information local to the media delivery device, wherein the library of first signature information includes records, each of which contains a time stamp, a signature value and a source identifier associated with a respective one of the plurality of media sources;

generate second signature information based on media presented via the media delivery device;

generate a collection of matching signature information based on the first and second signature information; and

perform a time shift analysis on the collection of matching signature information to identify the time shift associated with the one of the plurality of media sources local to the media delivery device, wherein the first signature information is associated with a first media source communicatively coupled to the media delivery device, and wherein the second signature information includes a second time stamp, a second signature value and a source identifier associated with a second media source communicatively coupled to the media delivery device.

12. A tangible machine readable medium having instructions stored thereon that, when executed, cause a machine to:

generate a library of first signature information local to the media delivery device, wherein the library of first signature information includes records, each of which contains a time stamp, a signature value and a source identifier associated with a respective one of the plurality of media sources;

generate second signature information based on media presented via the media delivery device;

generate a collection of matching signature information based on the first and second signature information; and

perform a time shift analysis on the collection of matching signature information to identify a time shift associated with one of the plurality of media sources local to the media delivery device, wherein the first signature information is associated with a first media source communicatively coupled to the media delivery device, and wherein the second signature information includes a second time stamp, a second signature value and a source identifier associated with a second media source communicatively coupled to the media delivery device.

13. A tangible machine readable medium as defined in claim 12, having instructions stored thereon that, when executed, cause the machine to identify one of the plurality of media sources by identifying the time shift associated with the one of the plurality of media sources.

14. A tangible machine readable medium as defined in claim 12, wherein the first and second media sources are the same media source.

15. A tangible machine readable medium as defined in claim 12, wherein the first and second media sources include at least one of a personal video recorder, a digital versatile disk player, a digital video recorder, a video cassette recorder, a set-top box, or a game console.

16. A tangible machine readable medium as defined in claim 12, having instructions stored thereon that, when executed, cause the machine to identify the source of the media presented via the media delivery device.

17. A tangible machine readable medium as defined in claim 12, having instructions stored thereon that, when executed, cause the machine to perform the time shift analysis by identifying records in the collection of matching signature information having substantially identical signature values and substantially different time stamp values.