Systems, methods, apparatus, and articles of manufacture to identify times at which live media events are distributed

• US 8,776,116 B2
• Filed: 12/07/2012
• Issued: 07/08/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 01/31/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: The Nielsen Company LLC (MOOD Media Corporation)
• Original Assignee: The Nielsen Company LLC (MOOD Media Corporation)
• Inventors: Wright, David Howell, Welch, Mark G.
• Primary Examiner(s): Chokshi, Pinkal R
• Application Number:
  US13/708,476
• Publication Number:
  US 20130198792A1
• Time in Patent Office: 578 Days
• Field of Search: 725/9, 725/14, 725/19, 725/20, 725/35, 725/36, 725/131, 725/135, 725/139, 348/161
• US Class Current: 725/36
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2187 Live feed
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/23 Processing of content or additional data; Elementary server operations; Server middleware
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2407 Monitoring of transmitted content, e.g. distribution time, number of downloads arrangements for monitoring programmes for broadcast or for distribution combined with broadcast H04H20/14
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2625 for delaying content or additional data distribution, e.g. because of an extended sport event
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/84 Generation or processing of descriptive data, e.g. content descriptors systems specially adapted for using meta-information in broadcast systems H04H60/73

Abstract

Systems, methods, apparatus, and articles of manufacture to identify times at which live media events are distributed are disclosed. An example method includes collecting feed data representative of source feeds associated with respective live media events, collecting distribution data representative of a plurality of distributions of the source feeds, and comparing, using a processor, the distribution data to the feed data to generate a list identifying times at which the live media events were distributed via corresponding distributions.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

collecting feed data representative of a plurality of source feeds being provided to a distributor, the source feeds being associated with respective live media events;

collecting distribution data, the distribution data being representative of a plurality of distributions of the source feeds by the distributor; and

comparing, using a processor, the distribution data to the feed data to generate a list identifying an on-the-fly switch occurring on a single channel between a first one of the live media events and a second one of the live media events made by the distributor, the first live media event being a live media event scheduled to be transmitted by the distributor at a first time, and generating the list comprises logging that the second live media event is actually transmitted by the distributor at the first time.

2. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein the first live media event is a first sporting event and the second live media event is a second sporting event different from the first sporting event.

3. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein generating the list comprises comparing a code present in the feed data to a code present in the distribution data.

4. A method as defined in claim 3, wherein generating the list comprises comparing a first signature associated with the feed data to a second signature associated with the distribution data.

5. A method as defined in claim 3, wherein the code present in the distribution data is collected at a reference station not present in a panelist household.

6. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein generating the list comprises comparing a first signature associated with the feed data to a second signature associated with the distribution data.

7. A method as defined in claim 6, wherein the second signature associated with the distribution data is collected at a reference station not present in a panelist household.

8. A method as defined in claim 1, further comprising identifying the second live media event.

9. A method as defined in claim 8, wherein the list identifies the live media events by name.

10. A method as defined in claim 8, wherein identifying the second live media event comprises comparing a code present in the distribution data to a first library mapping codes to at least one of a station name, a distributor name, a content owner or a program name.

28. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein at least a portion of the feed data and at least a portion of the distribution data are representative of a distribution of the first live media event, and collecting the portion of the feed data and collecting the portion of the distribution data occur during the first live media event.

29. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein generating the list comprises determining which of the plurality of source feeds is being distributed by the distributor at a first time by comparing the distribution data to the feed data.

30. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein the list identifies a first time at which the distributor starts distributing a first source feed associated with the first one of the live media events and a second time at which the distributor ends distribution of the first source feed or changes from distributing the first source feed to distributing a second source feed associated with the second one of the live media events.

11. An apparatus, comprising:

a comparator to compare distribution data to feed data, the distribution data being representative of media information received at a detection site and the feed data being representative of respective live media events being provided to a distributor via corresponding source feeds; and

a list generator to generate a list identifying an on-the-fly switch occurring on a single channel between a first one of the live media events and a second one of the live media events at the distributor level, the first live media event being a live media event scheduled to be transmitted by the distributor at a first time, the list generator to generate the list by logging that the second live media event is actually transmitted by the distributor at the first time.

12. An apparatus as defined in claim 11, wherein the comparator comprises a signature comparator to compare the distribution data to a signature stored in a signature library, the signature being representative of one of the live media events.

13. An apparatus as defined in claim 11, wherein the distribution data and the feed data comprise signatures generated using at least one of audio signaturing or video signaturing.

14. An apparatus as defined in claim 11, wherein the comparator comprises a code comparator to identify at least one of a station name, a distributor name, a content owner or a program name.

15. An apparatus as defined in claim 14, further comprising a code library to map a plurality of codes to respective ones of the station name, the distributor name, the content owner or the program name.

16. An apparatus as defined in claim 11, wherein the list generator is to generate the list without requesting additional information from a source of the distribution data.

17. An apparatus as defined in claim 11, wherein the comparator is to identify a match between the distribution data and the feed data when at least a threshold number of distribution signatures collected from a media monitoring site correspond to feed signatures collected from an on-site location associated with one of the live media events.

18. An apparatus as defined in claim 11, wherein the distributor is associated with a first geographical region different than a second geographical region associated with a second distributor that receives the source feeds.

19. A tangible computer readable medium comprising computer readable instructions which, when executed, cause a processor to at least:

access feed data representative of a plurality of source feeds being provided to a distributor, the source feeds being associated with respective live media events;

access distribution data, the distribution data being representative of a plurality of distributions of the source feeds by the distributor; and

compare the distribution data to the feed data to generate a list identifying an on-the-fly switch occurring on a single channel between a first one of the live media events and a second one of the live media events caused by the distributor, the first live media event being a live media event scheduled to be transmitted by the distributor at a first time, and generating the list comprises logging that the second live media event is actually transmitted by the distributor at the first time.

20. A tangible computer readable medium as defined in claim 19, wherein the list identifies the live media events by name.

21. A tangible computer readable as defined in claim 19, further comprising identifying the live media events by comparing a code present in the distribution data to a first library mapping codes to at least one of a station name, a distributor name, a content owner or a program name.

22. A tangible computer readable as defined in claim 21, wherein identifying the live media events comprises comparing a signature associated with the distribution data to a second library mapping signatures to at least one of a station name, a distributor name, a content owner or a program name.

23. A tangible computer readable medium as defined in claim 21, wherein the code present in the distribution data is collected at a reference station not present in a panelist household.

24. A tangible computer readable medium as defined in claim 19, further comprising identifying the live media events by comparing a signature associated with the distribution data to a second library mapping signatures to at least one of a station name, a distributor name, a content owner or a program name.

25. A tangible computer readable medium as defined in claim 24, wherein the signature associated with the distribution data is collected at a reference station not present in a panelist household.

26. A tangible computer readable medium as defined in claim 22, wherein the signature associated with the distribution data is collected at a reference station not present in a panelist household.

27. A tangible computer readable medium as defined in claim 19, wherein the plurality of distributions comprise at least one of an over-the-air television broadcast, cable delivery, satellite transmission, or Internet delivery.