Signature-based program identification apparatus and methods for use with digital broadcast systems

• US 9,054,820 B2
• Filed: 07/25/2012
• Issued: 06/09/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 06/20/2003
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: The Nielsen Company LLC (MOOD Media Corporation)
• Original Assignee: The Nielsen Company LLC (MOOD Media Corporation)
• Inventors: Lee, Morris, Schilp, William H., Hicks, Michael A., Schwerer, Ronald, Wright, David H., Deng, Kevin
• Primary Examiner(s): Kumar, Pankaj
• Assistant Examiner(s): Hicks, Charles N
• Application Number:
  US13/558,224
• Publication Number:
  US 20120291058A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,049 Days
• Field of Search: 725/19, 725/32, 725/35, 725/115
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/1235 with control of digital rights management [DRM]
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 2201/90 characterised by the use of signatures
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/372 Programme
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/40 for identifying broadcast time
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/43 for identifying broadcast channels
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/56 Arrangements characterised by components specially adapted for monitoring, identification or recognition covered by groups H04H60/29-H04H60/54
• 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 21/23418 involving operations for analysing video streams, e.g. detecting features or characteristics television picture signal circuitry for scene change detection H04N5/147; filtering for image enhancement G06T5/00; methods or arrangements for recognising scenes G06V20/00; arrangements characterised by components specially adapted for monitoring, identification or recognition of video in broadcast systems H04H60/59
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/25891 being end-user preferences retrieval of video data in a video database based on user preferences G06F16/739; arrangements for recognizing users' preferences H04H60/46; user profiles in network data switching protocols H04L67/306; processing of user preferences or user profiles in wireless networks H04W8/18
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/433 Content storage operation, e.g. storage operation in response to a pause request, caching operations
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44008 involving operations for analysing video streams, e.g. detecting features or characteristics in the video stream arrangements characterised by components specially adapted for monitoring, identification or recognition of video in broadcast systems H04H60/59
• 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 7/17309 Transmission or handling of upstream communications

Abstract

Signature-based program identification apparatus and methods for use with digital audio and/or video systems are disclosed. The disclosed systems and methods develop signatures of digital audio and/or video content from a digital data stream at two or more sites and compare the signatures to one another to identify the content.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving a digital data stream at a consumer site;

storing the digital data stream until playback;

generating digital signatures from the digital data stream during playback of the digital data stream at the consumer site by;

extracting a first non-payload portion from a first data packet of the digital data stream, the first data packet including the first non-payload portion and a first payload portion;

extracting a second non-payload portion from a second data packet of the digital data stream, the first data packet and the second data packet included in a first block of consecutive data packets;

concatenating the first non-payload portion and the second non-payload portion to form a first digital signature;

extracting a third non-payload portion from a third data packet, the third data packet including the third non-payload portion and a second payload portion;

extracting a fourth non-payload portion from a fourth data packet of the digital data stream, wherein the third data packet and the fourth data packet are included in a second block of consecutive data packets; and

concatenating the third non-payload portion and the fourth non-payload portion to form a second digital signature;

comparing the first digital signature and the second digital signature to one or more reference signatures in a reference signature database; and

identifying the digital data stream based on the comparison.

2. A method as described in claim 1, further comprising:

associating a first time value with the digital data stream indicating when the digital data stream was received at the consumer site; and

associating the first time value with the first digital signature when the first digital signature is generated during playback.

3. A method as described in claim 2, further comprising:

associating a second time value with each reference signature in the reference signature database;

calculating a delay window for the second time value associated with each reference signature; and

comparing the first digital signature to one or more of the reference signatures when the first time value associated with the first digital signature falls within the delay window of the second time value of one or more of the reference signatures.

4. A method as described in claim 1, further comprising developing the reference signature database based on one or more digital data streams received at a reference site, the reference signature database including a reference signature for each digital data stream received, and wherein the reference signature database is generated at the reference site.

5. A method as described in claim 1, wherein the digital data stream is delivered via a local device.

6. A method as described in claim 5, wherein the local device is a digital video recorder.

19. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein the non-payload portions of the data packets are offset a predetermined number of bits from a header portion of the data packets.

21. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein the non-payload portion of the digital data stream includes a cyclical redundancy check.

22. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein the first data packet and the second data packet are consecutive data packets in the digital data stream.

23. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein the first data packet and the second data packet are at least two data packets apart in the digital data stream.

24. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein the first block of consecutive data packets and the second block of consecutive data packets are separated by a time delay.

25. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein the first block of consecutive data packets and the second block of consecutive data packets are separated by a third block of consecutive data packets.

26. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein identifying the digital data stream further comprises:

comparing the first digital signature and the second digital signature to the one or more reference signatures in the reference signature database; and

identifying the digital data stream based on the comparison.

27. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein the first data packet includes the first non-payload portion, the payload portion and a fifth non-payload portion.

28. A method as defined in claim 1, further comprising extracting a first subset of the first non-payload portion and a second subset of the second non-payload portion to form the first digital signature.

7. An apparatus comprising:

a signal processor to;

receive a digital data stream at a consumer site; and

store the digital data stream until playback;

a signature generator to generate digital signatures from the digital data stream during playback of the digital data stream at the consumer site by;

extracting a first non-payload portion from a first data packet of the digital data stream, the first data packet including the first non-payload portion and a first payload portion;

extracting a second non-payload portion from a second data packet of the digital data stream, the first data packet and the second data packet included in a first block of consecutive data packets;

concatenating the first non-payload portion and the second non-payload portion to form a first digital signature;

extracting a third non-payload portion from a third data packet, the third data packet including the third non-payload portion and a second payload portion;

extracting a fourth non-payload portion from a fourth data packet of the digital data stream, wherein the third data packet and the fourth data packet are included in a second block of consecutive data packets; and

concatenating the third non-payload portion and the fourth non-payload portion to form a second digital signature; and

a program consumption analyzer to compare the first digital signature and the second digital signature to one or more reference signatures in a reference signature database.

8. An apparatus as defined in claim 7, wherein the program consumption analyzer is to identify the digital data stream based on the comparison.

9. An apparatus as defined in claim 7, further comprising:

a time stamper to associate a first time value with the first digital signature based on when the first digital signature is generated during playback; and

wherein the program consumption analyzer is to;

calculate a delay window for a second time value associated with each reference signature in the reference signature database; and

compare the first digital signature to one or more of the reference signatures in the reference signature database when the first time value associated with the first digital signature falls within the delay window of the second time value of one or more of the reference signatures.

10. An apparatus as defined in claim 7, wherein the reference signature database is to store one or more reference signatures, wherein each reference signature corresponds to a digital data stream received at a reference site, and wherein the reference signature database is generated at the reference site.

11. An apparatus as defined in claim 7, wherein the digital data stream is delivered via a local device.

12. An apparatus as defined in claim 11, wherein the local device is a digital video recorder.

20. An apparatus as defined in claim 7, wherein the signature generator is to form the digital signatures by:

identifying portions of the data packets offset a predetermined number of bits from the header portion of the data packets, and

concatenating the identified portions of the data packets.

13. A machine readable storage device or storage disc comprising instructions that, when executed, cause a machine to at least:

receive a digital data stream at a consumer site;

store the digital data stream until playback;

generate digital signatures from the digital data stream during playback of the digital data stream at the consumer site by;

extracting a first non-payload portion from a first data packet of the digital data stream, the first data packet including the first non-payload portion and a first payload portion;

extracting a second non-payload portion from a second data packet of the digital data stream, the first data packet and the second data packet included in a first block of consecutive data packets;

concatenating the first non-payload portion and the second non-payload portion to form a first digital signature;

extracting a third non-payload portion from a third data packet, the third data packet including the third non-payload portion and a second payload portion;

extracting a fourth non-payload portion from a fourth data packet of the digital data stream, wherein the third data packet and the fourth data packet are included in a second block of consecutive data packets; and

concatenating the third non-payload portion and the fourth non-payload portion to form a second digital signature; and

compare the first digital signature and the second digital signature to one or more reference signatures in a reference signature database.

14. A machine readable storage device or storage disc as defined in claim 13, wherein the instructions further cause the machine to identify the digital data stream based on the comparison.

15. A machine readable storage device or storage disc as defined in claim 13, wherein the instructions further cause the machine to:

associate a first time value with the digital data stream based on when the digital data stream is received;

associate the first time value with the first digital signature when the first digital signature is generated during playback;

associate a second time value with each reference signature in the reference signature database;

calculate a delay window for the second time value associated with each reference signature; and

compare the first digital signature to one or more of the reference signatures in the reference signature database when the first time value associated with the digital signature falls within the delay window of the second time value of one or more of the reference signatures.

16. A machine readable storage device or storage disc as defined in claim 13, wherein the instructions further cause the machine to store one or more reference signatures, wherein each reference signature corresponds to a digital data stream received at a reference site, and wherein the reference signature database is generated at the reference site.

17. A machine readable storage device or storage disc as defined in claim 13, wherein the digital data stream is delivered via a local device.

18. A machine readable storage device or storage disc as defined in claim 17, wherein the local device is a digital video recorder.