Methods and apparatus to generate and use content-aware watermarks

• US 8,805,689 B2
• Filed: 04/11/2008
• Issued: 08/12/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 04/11/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: The Nielsen Company LLC (MOOD Media Corporation)
• Original Assignee: The Nielsen Company LLC (MOOD Media Corporation)
• Inventors: Ramaswamy, Arun, Luff, Robert A.
• Primary Examiner(s): COLUCCI, MICHAEL C
• Application Number:
  US12/101,738
• Publication Number:
  US 20090256972A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,314 Days
• Field of Search: 715/723, 715/203, 725/110, 725/34, 725/32, 704/723, 704/203, 704/273, 704/270, 704/211, 704/205, 713/176, 713/153, 709/217, 707/769, 705/14.14, 705/14.1, 382/100
• US Class Current: 704/273
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 1/0021 Image watermarking
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 20/31 using in-band signals, e.g. subsonic or cue signal
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 2201/50 characterised by the use of watermarks
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/37 for identifying segments of broadcast information, e.g. scenes or extracting programme ID
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/48 for recognising items expressed in broadcast information
• 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

Methods and apparatus to generate and use content-aware watermarks are disclosed herein. In a disclosed example method, media composition data is received and at least one word present in an audio track of the media composition data is selected. The word is then located in a watermark.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

obtaining a plurality of words present in an audio track of a media composition, the plurality of words to be audible during playback of the audio track;

selecting at least one of the words based on weight values for a plurality of terms respectively corresponding to the words, and the corresponding weight values of the at least one of the words being greater than a weight value of the ones of words which is not selected; and

encoding the selected word in a watermark.

2. A method as defined in claim 1, further comprising associating the watermark with the media composition.

3. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein the media composition includes at least one of audio data or video data.

4. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein the selected word is indicative of a product name or a product type mentioned in the audio track.

5. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein obtaining the plurality of words comprises obtaining the plurality of words from closed caption text for the media composition.

6. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein obtaining the plurality of words comprises:

performing a speech-to-text conversion to generate a textual representation of at least a portion of the audio track; and

obtaining the plurality of words from the textual representation.

7. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein selecting the at least one word is further based on the at least one word being descriptive of content in the media composition.

8. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein selecting the at least one word is further based on the at least one word being a term for searching for the media composition in one or more servers.

9. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein encoding the word in the watermark comprises:

at least one of truncating the word or omitting characters from the word to form a partial word; and

encoding the partial word in the watermark.

10. A method as defined in claim 1, further comprising selecting metadata associated with the media composition, the metadata including spatial information defining a location on a screen at which visual information is displayed.

11. An apparatus, comprising:

a data interface to receive a media composition;

a word selector to select a first one of a plurality of words present in an audio track of the media composition, the plurality of words to be audible during playback of the audio track, the word selector to select the first word based on respective weight values for a plurality of terms respectively corresponding to the words, and a first one of the weight values corresponding to the first word being greater than a second weight value of a non-selected one of the words; and

a watermark encoder to encode the selected word in a watermark.

12. An apparatus as defined in claim 11, further comprising a watermark embedder to associate the watermark with the media composition.

13. An apparatus as defined in claim 12, wherein the media composition and the associated watermark are to be broadcast to one or more media devices associated with one or more audience members.

14. An apparatus as defined in claim 11, wherein the media composition includes at least one of audio data or video data.

15. An apparatus as defined in claim 11, wherein the selected word is indicative of a product name or a product type mentioned in the media composition.

16. An apparatus as defined in claim 11, wherein the word selector is to obtain the plurality of words from closed caption text.

17. An apparatus as defined in claim 11, wherein the word selector is to obtain the plurality of words by:

performing a speech-to-text conversion to generate a textual representation of at least a portion of the audio track; and

obtaining the plurality of words from the textual representation.

18. An apparatus as defined in claim 11, wherein the word selector is to select the first word based on the first word being descriptive of content in the media composition.

19. An apparatus as defined in claim 11, wherein the word selector is to select the first word based on the first word being a term for searching for the media composition in at least one server.

20. An apparatus as defined in claim 11, further comprising a metadata detector to select metadata associated with the media composition, the metadata to include spatial information defining a location on a screen at which visual information is displayed.

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

obtain a plurality of words present in an audio track of a media composition, the plurality of words to be audible during playback of the audio track;

select at least one of the words based on weight values for a plurality of terms respectively corresponding to the words, and the corresponding weight values of the at least one of the words being greater than a weight value of the ones of words which is not selected; and

encode the selected word in a watermark.

22. A tangible machine accessible storage device or storage disc as defined in claim 21, further comprising instructions that, when executed, cause the machine to associate the watermark with the media composition.

23. A tangible machine accessible storage device or storage disc as defined in claim 21, wherein the media composition includes at least one of audio data or video data.

24. A tangible machine accessible storage device or storage disc as defined in claim 21, wherein the selected word is indicative of a product name or a product type mentioned in the media composition.

25. A tangible machine accessible storage device or storage disc as defined in claim 21, wherein the instructions cause the machine to obtain the plurality of words from closed caption text of the media composition.

26. A tangible machine accessible storage device or storage disc as defined in claim 21, wherein the instructions cause the machine to obtain the plurality of words by:

performing a speech-to-text conversion to generate a textual representation of at least a portion of the audio track; and

obtaining the plurality of words from the textual representation.

27. A tangible machine accessible storage device or storage disc as defined in claim 21, wherein the instructions cause the machine to select the at least one word based on the at least one word being descriptive of content in the media composition.

28. A tangible machine accessible storage device or storage disc as defined in claim 21, wherein the instructions cause the machine to select the at least one word based on the at least one word being a term for searching for the media composition one or more servers.

29. A tangible machine accessible storage device or storage disc as defined in claim 21, further comprising instructions that, when executed, cause the machine to select metadata associated with the media composition, the metadata to include spatial information defining a location on a screen at which visual information is displayed.