Methods and apparatus for detecting on-screen media sources
First Claim
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1. A computer implemented method to identify an active household media source device, comprising:
- receiving a video signal;
analyzing a portion of the video signal associated with a display region of interest, wherein the video signal is provided to a display device by the active household media source device;
comparing the portion of the video signal to a template programmed state diagram comprising a plurality of device modes, each device mode corresponding to an image and associated with a candidate next mode, to identify the active household media source device from a plurality of household media source devices that are not providing the video signal to the display device; and
generating an output including the identified active household media source device.
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Abstract
Methods and apparatus for detecting on-screen media sources are disclosed. An example method includes monitoring a region of interest of a video signal for a first image, comparing the first image to a stored image, and confirming the media device change when the stored image differs from the first image and is associated with a secondary criterion.
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Citations
25 Claims
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1. A computer implemented method to identify an active household media source device, comprising:
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receiving a video signal; analyzing a portion of the video signal associated with a display region of interest, wherein the video signal is provided to a display device by the active household media source device; comparing the portion of the video signal to a template programmed state diagram comprising a plurality of device modes, each device mode corresponding to an image and associated with a candidate next mode, to identify the active household media source device from a plurality of household media source devices that are not providing the video signal to the display device; and generating an output including the identified active household media source device. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. A computer implemented method to identify video output from an alternate household media source device, comprising:
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monitoring a region of interest of a video signal for a first image; comparing the first image to a stored image programmed state diagram comprising a plurality of device modes, each device mode corresponding to an image and associated with a candidate next mode, the first image associated with one of a plurality of household media source devices capable of outputting the video signal to a display device; confirming current video output from the alternate household media source device when the image associated with the candidate next mode differs from the first image and is associated with a secondary criterion to identify the alternate household media source device from a plurality of household media source devices that are not providing a video signal to the display device; and generating an output including the confirmed alternate household media source device. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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18. A method to identify a media device mode comprising:
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monitoring a region of interest in a video signal at a first time; comparing the monitored region of interest to a programmed state diagram comprising a plurality of device modes to determine a media device mode candidate, each device mode corresponding to an image and associated with at least one of the media device mode candidates; monitoring the region of interest at a second time; and comparing the monitored region of interest to the programmed state diagram to confirm the media device mode candidate as the media device mode and to identify an active household media source device from a plurality of household media source devices that are not providing the video signal to a display device. - View Dependent Claims (19)
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20. An apparatus to monitor a video signal comprising:
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a region of interest extractor to extract an image signal from a region of the video signal; an image quantizer to quantize the extracted image signal; and an object comparator to compare the quantized image signal with a programmed mode sequence state diagram based on firmware programming of a household media device to identify an operational viewing mode and to identify an active household media source device from a plurality of household media source devices that are not providing the video signal to a display device. - View Dependent Claims (21)
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22. An apparatus to process a video signal comprising:
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a framegrabber to capture the video signal at a first rate; a media source detector to quantize the video signal to improve image detection of a first and second region of interest; and an on screen display reader to compare detected images in the first and second regions of interest to a programmed mode sequence state diagram to identify an active household media source device from a plurality of household media source devices that are not providing the video signal to a display device when the compared images in the first and second regions of interest match a sequence of images associated with the programmed mode sequence state diagram. - View Dependent Claims (23)
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24. A computer implemented method, comprising:
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capturing a screenshot generated by a media device; determining image regions of interest based on an operating mode of the media device and a programmed state diagram corresponding to the media device; and identifying a current operating mode of the media device by analyzing at least one of the image regions of interest within the screenshot to identify an active household media source device from a plurality of household media source devices that are not providing a video signal to a display device. - View Dependent Claims (25)
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Specification