Digital rights management and audience measurement systems and methods

• US 8,249,992 B2
• Filed: 03/21/2008
• Issued: 08/21/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 03/22/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: The Nielsen Company LLC (MOOD Media Corporation)
• Original Assignee: The Nielsen Company LLC (MOOD Media Corporation)
• Inventors: Harkness, David H., Ramaswamy, Arun, Nasser, Kamal, Fuhrer, Brian
• Primary Examiner(s): KUCAB, JAMIE R
• Application Number:
  US12/052,849
• Publication Number:
  US 20080249961A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,614 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 705/59
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0283 Price estimation or determination
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2209/603 Digital right managament [DRM]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2209/608 Watermarking
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2463/103 applying security measure for protecting copyright
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0245 Filtering by information in the payload
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/10 for controlling access to devices or network resources
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/12 Applying verification of the received information cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for data integrity or data verification H04L9/32
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/06 specially adapted for file transfer, e.g. file transfer protocol [FTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/3247 involving digital signatures
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/23892 involving embedding information at multiplex stream level, e.g. embedding a watermark at packet level
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2547 Third Party Billing, e.g. billing of advertiser
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/26291 for providing content or additional data updates, e.g. updating software modules, stored at the client deployment, distribution, installation, update of software G06F8/65; error detection or correction during software upgrading G06F11/1433; arrangements for updating broadcast information or broadcast-related information H04H60/25
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/26603 for automatically generating descriptors from content, e.g. when it is not made available by its provider, using content analysis techniques
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/278 Content descriptor database or directory service for end-user access details of content or meta data based information retrieval of video data in video databases G06F16/739
• 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 21/44224 Monitoring of user activity on external systems, e.g. Internet browsing
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44236 Monitoring of piracy processes or activities protecting computer platforms against harmful, malicious or unexpected behaviour or activities using intrusion detection and counter measures G06F21/566; computer virus detection and handling G06F21/56
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6581 Reference data, e.g. a movie identifier for ordering a movie or a product identifier in a home shopping application
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8352 involving content or source identification data, e.g. Unique Material Identifier [UMID]
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8358 involving watermark protecting executable software by watermarking G06F21/16; image watermarking in general G06T1/0021; watermarks inserted in still images for transmission purposes H04N1/32144; inserting watermarks during video coding H04N19/467

Abstract

Digital rights management and audience measurement systems and methods are disclosed. An example method includes receiving a request to upload media content to a content distributor, attempting to obtain a code associated with the media content, querying a program information database for program information associated with the media content using the code, and applying a business rule to the media content based on the program information.

Claims

1. A method for receiving media content at a content distribution site, the method comprising:

attempting to extract a code associated with the media content from at least one of audio or video of the media content, wherein the media content is to be uploaded to a content distributor;

when the code is obtained, querying a program information database for program information associated with the media content using the code;

querying a ratings database for ratings information associated with the media content using the code; and

processing the media content based on the program information and the rating information, wherein processing the media content comprises;

determining if the media content should be stored at the content distribution site based on the program information and the ratings information; and

storing the media content at the content distribution site based on the determination.

2. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein processing the media content comprises:

determining an owner of the media content based on at least one of the program information and the ratings information; and

sending a request for a license to the content owner.

3. A method as defined in claim 2, wherein sending the request comprises:

determining a royalty based on the ratings information; and

identifying the royalty in the request for the license.

4. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein the program information includes an indication of a distribution license for the media content.

5. A method as defined in claim 1, further comprising:

determining if the code was obtained from the media content;

when the code was not obtained from the media content;

computing a signature for the media content;

sending a query to a database to identify the media content based on the signature;

receiving a response from the database including an identification of the media content;

querying the program information database for the program information associated with the media content using the identification of the media content; and

querying the ratings database for the ratings information associated with the media content using the identification of the media content.

6. A method as defined in claim 1, further comprising generating an advertisement proposal for the media content based on the program information and the ratings information.

7. A method as defined in claim 6, wherein generating the advertisement proposal includes:

determining a fee for distributing an advertisement with the media content; and

sending the advertisement proposal including the fee to an advertiser.

8. A method as defined in claim 1, further comprising determining if the media content is authorized for distribution based on the code.

9. A method as defined in claim 1, further comprising crawling a storage medium available to a media device to locate the media content.

10. An apparatus comprising:

a content upload interface to receive a request to upload media content to a content distributor;

a code extractor to attempt to obtain a code associated with the media content by extracting an identifier value from at least one of audio or video of the media content;

a television guide database interface to, when the code is obtained, query a program information database for program information associated with the media content using the code;

a ratings database interface to query a ratings database for ratings information associated with the media content using the code; and

a processor to, when the code is obtained, process the media content based on the program information and the ratings information, wherein processing the media content comprises;

determining if the media content should be stored at the content distribution site based on the program information and the ratings information; and

storing the media content in a content store at the content distribution site based on the determination.

11. An apparatus as defined in claim 10, further comprising:

a content owner identifier to determine an owner of the media content based on the program information, wherein the processor is further to send a request for a license to the content owner.

12. An apparatus as defined in claim 11, wherein sending the request comprises:

determining a royalty based on the ratings information; and

identifying the royalty in the request for the license.

13. An apparatus as defined in claim 10, further comprising:

an office interface; and

a signature engine to determine if the code was obtained from the media content, wherein when the code was not obtained from the media content;

the signature engine is further to compute a signature for the media content;

the office interface is to send a query to a database to identify the media content based on the signature and to receive a response from the database including an identification of the media content;

the television guide database interface is further to query the program information database for the program information associated with the media content using the identification of the media content; and

the ratings database interface is further to query the ratings database for the ratings information associated with the media content using the identification of the media content.

14. An apparatus as defined in claim 10, further comprising an advertisement agent to generate an advertisement proposal for the media content based on the program information and the ratings information.

15. An apparatus as defined in claim 14, wherein the advertisement agent is further to:

determine a fee for distributing an advertisement with the media content; and

send the advertisement proposal including the fee to an advertiser.

16. An apparatus as defined in claim 10, further comprising a digital rights management and audience measurement server interface to determine if the media content is authorized for distribution based on the code.

17. An apparatus as defined in claim 10, further comprising a crawler to crawl a storage medium available to a media device to locate the media content.

18. An apparatus as defined in claim 10, wherein the code is the identifier value.

19. An apparatus as defined in claim 10, wherein the identifier value is a watermark.

20. A tangible machine readable medium storing instructions that, when executed, cause the machine to at least:

attempt to obtain a code associated with media content by extracting an identifier value from at least one of audio or video of the media content, wherein the media content is to be uploaded to a content distributor site;

when the code is obtained, query a program information database for program information associated with the media content using the code;

query a ratings database for ratings information associated with the media content using the code; and

process the media content based on the program information and the ratings information, wherein the instructions cause the machine to process the media content by;

determining if the media content should be stored at the content distribution site based on the program information and the ratings information; and

storing the media content at the content distribution site based on the determination.

21. A machine readable medium as defined in claim 20, wherein the instructions, when executed, further cause the machine to:

determine if the code was obtained from the media content;

when the code was not obtained from the media content;

compute a signature for the media content;

send a query to a back office to identify the media content based on the signature;

receive a response from the back office including an identification of the media content;

query the program information database for the program information associated with the media content using the identification of the media content; and

query the ratings database for the ratings information associated with the media content using the identification of the media content.

22. A machine readable medium as defined in claim 20, wherein the instructions, when executed, further cause the machine to generate an advertisement proposal for the media content based on the program information and the ratings information.