Methods and apparatus to verify consumption of programming content

• US 8,677,393 B2
• Filed: 10/16/2009
• Issued: 03/18/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 06/08/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nielsen Company (US) LLC (RR Donnelley & Sons Company)
• Original Assignee: The Nielsen Company LLC (MOOD Media Corporation)
• Inventors: Lawrence, Bradley R. III
• Primary Examiner(s): CHEN, CAI Y
• Application Number:
  US12/580,835
• Publication Number:
  US 20100037250A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,614 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 725/32
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/37 for identifying segments of broadcast information, e.g. scenes or extracting programme ID
• 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 21/235 Processing of additional data, e.g. scrambling of additional data or processing content descriptors
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/25866 Management of end-user data customer care in data networks H04L41/5077
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4348 Demultiplexing of additional data and video streams
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/435 Processing of additional data, e.g. decrypting of additional data, reconstructing software from modules extracted from the transport stream
• 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 21/44222 Analytics of user selections, e.g. selection of programs or purchase activity monitoring of user selections in data processing systems G06F11/34; arrangements for monitoring the user's behaviour or opinions in broadcast systems H04H60/33
• 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 21/8352 involving content or source identification data, e.g. Unique Material Identifier [UMID]
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/173 with two-way working, e.g. subscriber sending a programme selection signal

Abstract

Methods and apparatus to verify consumption of content are described herein. In an example method, a content library is generated within a data structure. The content library includes at least one content identifier associated with programming content. The programming content is insertable into content stream. A content stream including content for broadcasting on a broadcast device is received. To verify consumption of the programming content, a broadcast content identifier associated with the content for broadcasting is compared to the at least one content identifier of the content library.

Claims

1. A method to verify presentation of media content, comprising:

storing, at a media device located in a household, a plurality of instances of media content to be inserted into a content stream by the media device;

storing, at the media device, a data structure including a plurality of index identifiers each assigned to one of the instances of media content to be inserted into the content stream, wherein a first content identifier corresponding to a first instance of the insertable media content is obtained at the media device prior to the media device outputting the first instance of insertable media content to a presentation device for time-shifted playback;

detecting presentation of the content stream by the media device after the insertable media content is stored by the media device;

extracting a second content identifier from the presentation of the content stream;

comparing the second content identifier to the first content identifier; and

when the second content identifier matches the first content identifier, identifying a first one of the index identifiers of the data structure assigned to the first instance of the insertable media content and conveying the first index identifier to a data collection facility as verification that the first instance of the insertable media content was presented by the media device.

2. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein the first and second content identifiers comprise at least one of an audio signature, a video signature, an audio code, a video code, a digital identifier, or a portion of the insertable media content.

3. A method as defined in claim 1, further comprising receiving a third content identifier at the media device via a first transmission medium, wherein the content stream is received at the media device via a second transmission medium different than the first transmission medium.

4. A method as defined in claim 3, wherein the first transmission medium is to carry an out-of-band transmission.

5. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein the first and second content identifiers are associated with one of a television advertisement, a television program, an interactive television application, or an alternate portion of the television program.

6. A method as defined in claim 1, further comprising conveying information related to the verifying of the first instance of the insertable media content as presented by the media device to the data collection facility, the information including an indication of a time or date that the first instance of the insertable media content was presented by the media device.

18. A method as defined in claim 3, further comprising storing the third content identifier in the library.

7. A tangible machine accessible storage device or disc comprising instructions that, when executed, cause a machine to at least:

store, at a media device located in a household, a plurality of instances of media content to be inserted into a content stream by the media device;

store, at the media device, a data structure including a plurality of index identifiers each assigned to one of the instances of the media content to be inserted into the content stream, wherein a first content identifier corresponding to a first instance of the insertable media content is obtained at the media device prior to the media device outputting the first instance of insertable media content to a presentation device for time-shifted playback;

detect presentation of the content stream by the media device after the insertable media content is stored by the media device;

extract a second content identifier from the presentation of the content stream;

compare the second content identifier to the first content identifier; and

when the second content identifier matches the first content identifier, identify a first one of the index identifier of the data structure assigned to the first instance of the insertable media content and conveying the first index identifier to a data collection facility as verification that the first instance of insertable media content was presented by the media device.

8. A tangible machine accessible storage device or disc as defined in claim 7, wherein the first and second content identifiers comprise at least one of an audio signature, a video signature, an audio code, a video code, a digital identifier, or a portion of the insertable media content.

9. A tangible machine accessible storage device or disc as defined in claim 7, the instructions to cause a machine to receive a third content identifier at the media device via a first transmission medium, wherein the content stream is received at the media device via a second transmission medium different than the first transmission medium.

10. A tangible machine accessible storage device or disc as defined in claim 9, wherein the first transmission medium is to carry an out-of-band transmission.

11. A tangible machine accessible storage device or disc as defined in claim 7, wherein the first and second content identifiers are associated with one of a television advertisement, a television program, an interactive television application, or an alternate portion of the television program.

12. A tangible machine accessible storage device or disc as defined in claim 7 having instructions stored thereon that, when executed, cause a machine to convey information related to the verifying of the media content as presented by the media device to the data collection facility, the information including an indication of a time or date that the media content was presented by the media device.

19. A tangible machine accessible device or disc as defined in claim 9, the instructions to cause a machine to store the third content identifier in the library.

13. A video recorder located at a household, comprising:

a library generator to generate a library including a plurality of content identifiers corresponding to media content received by the video recorder, the library generator to store the media content in a memory of the video recorder for playback in a time-shifted manner, the library generator to extract the content identifiers from the media content prior to the video recorder outputting the media content to a presentation device for the time-shifted playback of the stored media content;

a memory to store a data structure including a plurality of index identifiers each assigned to one of the instance of media content to be inserted into the content stream;

a comparator to compare a content identifier extracted from a time-shifted presentation on the presentation device to one or more of the plurality of content identifiers of the library; and

a processor to, when the extracted content identifier matches one of the content identifiers of the library, identify a first one of the index identifiers assigned to the instance of the insertable media content corresponding to the matching content identifier of the library and to convey the first one of the index identifiers to a data collection facility as verification of the presentation of the stored media content.

14. A video recorder as defined in claim 13, wherein the plurality of content identifiers of the library comprises at least one of an audio signature, a video signature, an audio code, a video code, or a portion of programming content.

15. A video recorder as defined in claim 13, wherein the media content comprises at least one of a television advertisement, a television program, an interactive television application, or an alternate portion of the television program.

16. A video recorder as defined in claim 13, wherein the processor is to convey information related to the verifying of the media content as presented by the device to the data collection facility, the information including an indication of a time or date of the presentation of the media content.

17. A video recorder as defined in claim 13, wherein the media content is an insertable advertisement to be inserted into a content stream received at the household.