Method and apparatus for identifying media content presented on a media playing device

• US 9,049,468 B2
• Filed: 09/14/2012
• Issued: 06/02/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 02/17/2000
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Audible Magic Corporation
• Original Assignee: Audible Magic Corporation
• Inventors: Ikezoye, Vance E., Schrempp, James B.
• Primary Examiner(s): OBEID, MAMON A
• Application Number:
  US13/620,144
• Publication Number:
  US 20130011008A1
• Time in Patent Office: 991 Days
• Field of Search: 705/50, 705/51, 705/14.1, 705/14.4, 707/1, 707/104, 726/23, 726/24, 726/27, 713/176
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/41 Indexing; Data structures therefor; Storage structures
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/48 Retrieval characterised by using metadata, e.g. metadata not derived from the content or metadata generated manually
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/634 Query by example, e.g. query by humming
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/683 using metadata automatically derived from the content
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/783 using metadata automatically derived from the content
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/7834 using audio features
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/10 specially adapted for electronic funds transfer [EFT] systems; specially adapted for home banking systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/367 involving electronic purses or money safes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0631 Item recommendations
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2353 specifically adapted to content descriptors, e.g. coding, compressing or processing of metadata
• 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 7/17318 Direct or substantially direct transmission and handling of requests

Abstract

A computing device executing a server engine receives a digital fingerprint created from a segment of a work, the work being a single rendering, the segment being less than an entirety of the work, and the digital fingerprint being based on perceptual features of the segment. The computing device compares the digital fingerprint to a plurality of digital fingerprints from a plurality of known works to identify a known work of the plurality of known works that corresponds to the work. The computing device transmits content-related data associated with the known work to a client device.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving a media sample by a computing device executing a server engine, the media sample having been created by a media device from a segment of media content, wherein the media content was at least a portion of a streamed or broadcast work received by the media device, the segment being a portion of the media content that is less than an entirety of the work, and the media sample comprising a digital fingerprint based on perceptual features of the segment;

identifying, by the computing device, a known work of a plurality of known works that corresponds to the streamed or broadcast work based on comparing the media sample to a plurality of reference samples from the plurality of known works, wherein comparing the media sample to a reference sample from a known work comprises;

dividing the media sample into a series of overlapping frames, each frame comprising a distinct digital fingerprint and having a size that corresponds to a size of the reference sample;

making comparisons between one or more of the overlapping frames and the reference sample for the known work; and

for each comparison between a frame of the media sample and the reference sample of the known work, computing a distance value representative of a similarity between the frame and the reference sample, wherein the known work is determined to correspond to the work if a computed distance value between any frame of the media sample and the reference sample of the known work is lower than a threshold;

transmitting, by the computing device, content-related data associated with the identified known work, wherein the content-related data is received by a client device and wherein the client device comprises the media device;

receiving a log of user activity generated by the client device, wherein the log is based on the content-related data; and

transmitting an offer for purchase of at least one of a product or a service related to said content-related data based on said log, wherein the offer is received by the client device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the work is at least one of an audio rendering or a video rendering.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the perceptual features comprise acoustical features including at least one of brightness, pitch and loudness.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the content-related information comprises at least one of a title of the work, an artist of the work, a name of an album associated with the work or product fulfillment information associated with the work.

5. A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium having instructions that, when executed by a processing device, cause the processing device to perform a method comprising:

receiving a media sample by the processing device, the media sample having been created by a media device from a segment of media content, wherein the media content was at least a portion of a streamed or broadcast work received by the media device, the segment being a portion of the media content that is less than an entirety of the work, and the media sample comprising a digital fingerprint based on perceptual features of the segment;

identifying, by the processing device, a known work of a plurality of known works that corresponds to the streamed or broadcast work based on comparing the media sample to a plurality of reference samples from the plurality of known works, wherein comparing the media sample to a reference sample from a known work comprises;

dividing the media sample into a series of overlapping frames, each frame comprising a distinct digital fingerprint and having a size that corresponds to a size of the reference sample;

making comparisons between one or more of the overlapping frames and the reference sample for the known work; and

for each comparison between a frame of the media sample and the reference sample of the known work, computing a distance value representative of a similarity between the frame and the reference sample, wherein the known work is determined to correspond to the work if a computed distance value between any frame of the media sample and the reference sample of the known work is lower than a threshold;

transmitting, by the computing device, content-related data associated with the identified known work, wherein the content-related data is received by a client device and wherein the client device comprises the media device;

receiving a log of user activity generated by the client device, wherein the log is based on the content-related data; and

transmitting an offer for purchase of at least one of a product or a service related to said content-related data based on said log, wherein the offer is received by the client device.

6. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 5, wherein the work is at least one of an audio rendering or a video rendering.

7. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 5, wherein the perceptual features comprise acoustical features including at least one of brightness, pitch and loudness.

8. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 5, wherein the content-related information comprises at least one of a title of the work, an artist of the work, a name of an album associated with the work or product fulfillment information associated with the work.

9. A computing device comprising:

a memory comprising instructions for a server engine; and

a processing device, coupled to the memory, to execute the instructions, wherein the instructions cause the processing device to;

receive a media sample created by a media device from a segment of media content, wherein the media content was at least a portion of a streamed or broadcast work received by the media device, the segment being a portion of the media content that is less than an entirety of the work, and the media sample comprising a digital fingerprint based on perceptual features of the segment;

identify a known work of a plurality of known works that corresponds to the streamed or broadcast work based on comparison of the media sample to a plurality of reference samples from the plurality of known works, wherein for the comparison of the media sample to a reference sample from a known work the processing device is to;

divide the media sample into a series of overlapping frames, each frame comprising a distinct digital fingerprint and having a size that corresponds to a size of the reference sample;

make comparisons between one or more of the overlapping frames and the reference sample for the known work; and

for each comparison between a frame of the media sample and the reference sample of the known work, compute a distance value representative of a similarity between the frame and the reference sample, wherein the known work is determined to correspond to the work if a computed distance value between any frame of the media sample and the reference sample of the known work is lower than a threshold;

transmit content-related data associated with the identified known work, wherein the content-related data is received by a client device and wherein the client device comprises the media device;

receive a log of user activity generated by the client device, wherein the log is based on the content-related data; and

transmit an offer for purchase of at least one of a product or a service related to said content-related data based on said log, wherein the offer is received by the client device.

10. The computing device of claim 9, wherein the perceptual features comprise acoustical features including at least one of brightness, pitch and loudness.

11. The computing device of claim 9, wherein the content-related information comprises at least one of a title of the work, an artist of the work, a name of an album associated with the work or product fulfillment information associated with the work.