Audio signature extraction and correlation

• US 8,244,527 B2
• Filed: 01/04/2010
• Issued: 08/14/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 10/27/1999
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: The Nielsen Company LLC (MOOD Media Corporation)
• Original Assignee: The Nielsen Company LLC (MOOD Media Corporation)
• Inventors: Srinivasan, Venugopal, Deng, Keqiang, Lu, Daozheng
• Primary Examiner(s): Han, Qi
• Application Number:
  US12/651,777
• Publication Number:
  US 20100195837A1
• Time in Patent Office: 953 Days
• Field of Search: 704/231, 704/270, 704/203, 704/205, 704/206, 704/200, 704/500, 725/18
• US Class Current: 704/231
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 25/48 specially adapted for particular use
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/29 Arrangements for monitoring broadcast services or broadcast-related 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

Abstract

A signature is extracted from the audio of a program received by a tunable receiver such that the signature characterizes the program. In order to extract the signature, blocks of the audio are converted to corresponding spectral moments. At least one of the spectral moments is then converted to the signature. Also, a test audio signal from a receiver is correlated to a reference audio signal by converting the test audio signal and the reference audio signal to corresponding test and reference spectra, determining test slopes corresponding to coefficients of the test spectrum and reference slopes corresponding to coefficients of the reference spectrum, and comparing the test slopes to the reference slopes in order to determine a match between the test audio signal and the reference audio signal.

Claims

1. A method of correlating a test audio signal derived from a receiver to a reference audio signal, the method comprising:

converting a first block of the test audio signal to a corresponding first frequency spectrum;

selecting segments between first frequency components of the first frequency spectrum as first test segments, the first test segments having first test slopes;

comparing, using a processor, signs of the first test slopes to signs of first reference slopes of first reference segments derived from the reference audio signal;

selecting segments between second frequency components of a second frequency spectrum as second test segments having corresponding second test slopes;

comparing, using the processor, signs of the second test slopes to signs of second reference slopes of second reference segments derived from the reference audio signal; and

determining a match between the test audio signal and the reference audio signal when at least a threshold ratio of the first test segments match the first reference segments and at least a threshold ratio of the second test segments match the second reference segments.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein comparing the test segments comprises:

converting the reference audio signal to a corresponding frequency reference spectrum; and

selecting segments between frequency components of the frequency reference spectrum as the reference segments.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the test audio signal is converted to a corresponding frequency spectrum by a Fast Fourier Transform (FFT), and the reference audio signal is converted to a corresponding frequency reference spectrum by a FFT.

4. The method of claim 2 wherein the test audio signal is converted to a corresponding frequency related test spectrum by a Modified Discrete Cosine Transform (MDCT), and the reference audio signal is converted to a corresponding frequency reference spectrum by a MDCT.

5. The method of claim 2 wherein only test segments associated with frequency components having a magnitude greater than a first threshold are compared to reference segments associated with frequency components having a magnitude greater than a second threshold in order to determine a match between the test audio signal and the reference audio signal.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein the first threshold is equal to the second threshold.

7. The method of claim 5 wherein a ratio of the number of matches between the test segments and the reference segments to the total number of reference segments must exceed a threshold in order to determine a match between the test audio signal and the reference audio signal.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein slopes of test segments associated with frequency components having a magnitude greater than a first threshold are compared to slopes of reference segments associated with frequency components having a magnitude greater than a second threshold in order to determine a match between the test audio signal and the reference audio signal.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein the first threshold is equal to the second threshold.

10. The method of claim 8 wherein a ratio of the number of matches between the slopes of test segments and the slopes of the reference segments to the total number of reference segments must exceed a threshold in order to determine a match between the test audio signal and the reference audio signal.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein each of the audio blocks contains N samples of the test audio signal, and each audio block contains N/2 old samples and N/2 new samples.

12. A method as defined in claim 1, further comprising converting the first frequency spectrum into the second frequency spectrum by adjusting at least one spectral amplitude of the first frequency spectrum in a frequency domain, the second frequency spectrum corresponding to a second audio block partially overlapping the first audio block in a time domain.

13. A method as defined in claim 12, wherein updating the spectral amplitudes for the first frequency components of the first frequency spectrum to obtain the second frequency spectrum is based on the following formula:

14. A method as defined in claim 13, wherein the intermediate frequency component F₁ is determined based on the following formula:

15. A method of correlating a test audio signal derived from a receiver to a reference audio signal, the method comprising:

converting a first block of the test audio signal to generate a first test spectrum;

determining first test slopes corresponding to coefficients of the first test spectrum;

converting the reference audio signal to first and second blocks of a reference spectrum;

determining first reference slopes corresponding to first coefficients of the first block of the reference spectrum;

determining second reference slopes corresponding to second coefficients of the second block of the reference spectrum;

comparing, using a processor, signs of the first test slopes to signs of the first reference slopes in order to determine a match between the first block of the test spectrum and the first block of the reference spectrum;

converting a second block of the test audio signal to generate a second test spectrum;

determining second test slopes corresponding to coefficients of the second test spectrum;

comparing, using a processor, signs of the second test slopes to signs of the reference slopes in order to determine a match between the second test spectrum and the reference spectrum; and

determining that the test audio signal matches the reference audio signal when at least the first block of the test spectrum matches the first block of the reference spectrum and the second block of the test spectrum matches the second block of the reference spectrum.

16. The method of claim 15 wherein the test audio signal is converted to the test spectrum by a Fast Fourier Transform (FFT), and the reference audio signal is converted to the reference spectrum by a FFT.

17. The method of claim 15 wherein the test audio signal is converted to the test spectrum by a Modified Discrete Cosine Transform (MDCT), and the reference audio signal is converted to the reference spectrum by a MDCT.

18. The method of claim 15 wherein comparing the test slopes comprises comparing only test slopes associated with coefficients having a magnitude greater than a first threshold to reference slopes associated with coefficients having a magnitude greater than a second threshold in order to determine a match between the test audio signal and the reference audio signal.

19. The method of claim 18 wherein the first threshold is equal to the second threshold.

20. The method of claim 18 wherein a ratio of the number of matches between the test slopes and the reference slopes to the total number of reference slopes must exceed a threshold in order to determine a match between the test audio signal and the reference audio signal.

21. A method as defined in claim 15, wherein updating the spectral amplitudes for the first frequency components of the first frequency spectrum is based on the following formula:

22. A method as defined in claim 21, wherein the intermediate frequency component F₁ is determined based on the following formula: