Methods and systems for reducing crediting errors due to spillover using audio codes and/or signatures

• US 9,191,704 B2
• Filed: 03/14/2013
• Issued: 11/17/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 03/14/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: The Nielsen Company LLC (MOOD Media Corporation)
• Original Assignee: The Nielsen Company LLC (MOOD Media Corporation)
• Inventors: Nielsen, Christen V.
• Primary Examiner(s): Pendleton, Brian T
• Assistant Examiner(s): Saint Cyr, Jean D
• Application Number:
  US13/828,702
• Publication Number:
  US 20140282640A1
• Time in Patent Office: 978 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 2201/90 characterised by the use of signatures
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/31 Arrangements for monitoring the use made of the broadcast services
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/40 for identifying broadcast time
• 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: H04N 21/254 Management at additional data server, e.g. shopping server, rights management server arrangements for maintenance or administration in data networks H04L41/00; network services using third party service providers H04L67/53
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/25866 Management of end-user data customer care in data networks H04L41/5077
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4394 involving operations for analysing the audio stream, e.g. detecting features or characteristics in audio streams arrangements characterised by components specially adapted for monitoring, identification or recognition of audio in broadcast systems H04H60/58
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/442 Monitoring of processes or resources, e.g. detecting the failure of a recording device, monitoring the downstream bandwidth, the number of times a movie has been viewed, the storage space available from the internal hard disk arrangements for monitoring broadcast services or broadcast-related services H04H60/29; arrangements for identifying or recognising characteristics with a direct linkage to broadcast information H04H60/35; monitoring of user activities for profile generation for accessing a video database G06F16/739; monitoring in wireless networks H04W24/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44213 Monitoring of end-user related data arrangements for monitoring the users' behaviour or opinions in broadcast systems H04H60/33
• 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

Abstract

Methods, apparatus, and articles of manufacture for reducing exposure crediting errors due to spillover in a media monitoring system are disclosed. An example method includes determining if first media monitoring data provided from a first meter identifies a same media as second media monitoring data provided from a second meter. If the first media monitoring data identifies the same media as the second media monitoring data, the example method includes detecting if spillover occurred by determining if an absolute value of a difference between a first timestamp associated with the first media monitoring data and a second timestamp associated with the second media monitoring data is less than a threshold. If spillover occurred, the example method includes determining which of the first media monitoring data or the second media monitoring data to credit as a media exposure.

Claims

1. A method to reduce crediting errors due to spillover in a media measuring system, comprising:

determining if first media monitoring data provided from a first meter identifies a same media as second media monitoring data provided from a second meter, the first meter and the second meter to monitor presented media at respective different locations;

if the first media monitoring data identifies the same media as the second media monitoring data, detecting if spillover occurred by determining if an absolute value of a difference between a first timestamp associated with the first media monitoring data and a second timestamp associated with the second media monitoring data is less than a threshold; and

if spillover occurred, determining which of the first media monitoring data or the second media monitoring data to credit as a media exposure.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the threshold is a first time less than a second time that it takes an audio signal to travel to the first meter from a media presentation device associated with the second meter.

3. The method of claim 1, further including crediting both the first media monitoring data and the second media monitoring data if the first media monitoring data does not identify the same media as the second media monitoring data.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein determining whether to credit the first media monitoring data or the second media monitoring data includes:

comparing the first timestamp of the first media monitoring data to the second timestamp of the second media monitoring data; and

determining if the first timestamp is earlier than the second timestamp.

5. The method of claim 4, further including crediting the first media monitoring data and not crediting the second media monitoring data if the first timestamp is earlier than the second timestamp.

6. The method of claim 4, further including crediting the second media monitoring data and not crediting the first media monitoring data if the first timestamp is later than the second timestamp.

7. The method of claim 5, further including discarding the second media monitoring data.

8. The method of claim 5, further including marking the second media monitoring data as not credited.

9. The method of claim 5, wherein crediting the first media monitoring data as the media exposure includes marking the first media monitoring data as credited.

10. The method of claim 9, further including transmitting the marked first media monitoring data to a central facility.

11. A spillover manager to reduce crediting errors due to spillover in a media measuring system, comprising:

a media comparator to;

determine if first media detected by a first meter is equivalent to second media detected by a second meter, the first meter and the second meter to monitor presented media at different locations; and

if the first media is not equivalent to the second media, determine that spillover did not occur; and

a timestamp comparator to determine whether spillover occurred by determining if an absolute value of a difference between a first timestamp associated with the first media detected by the first meter and a second timestamp associated with the second media detected by the second meter is less than a threshold and to determine which of the first media or the second media to credit as a media exposure.

12. The spillover manager of claim 11, wherein the first media is equivalent to the second media if the first media and the second media are a same media.

13. The spillover manager of claim 11, further including a media creditor to credit both the first media and the second media if the media comparator determines the first media is not equivalent to the second media.

14. The spillover manager of claim 11, wherein to credit the first media as the media exposure, the media creditor is to label the first media monitoring data corresponding to the first media as credited.

15. The spillover manager of claim 14, further including a transmitter to transmit the labeled first media monitoring data to a central facility.

16. The spillover manager of claim 11, wherein to determine whether to credit the first media or the second media, the timestamp comparator is to:

compare the first timestamp of the first media to the second timestamp of the second media; and

determine if the first timestamp is earlier than the second timestamp.

17. The spillover manager of claim 16, further including a media creditor to credit the first media and not credit the second media if the first timestamp is earlier than the second timestamp.

18. The spillover manager of claim 17, wherein the media creditor is to credit the second media and not credit the first media if the first timestamp is later than the second timestamp.

19. The spillover manager of claim 17, wherein the media creditor is to discard media monitoring data corresponding to the second media.

20. The spillover manager of claim 17, wherein the media creditor is to label media monitoring data corresponding to the second media as not credited.

21. A tangible computer readable storage medium comprising instructions that, when executed, cause a computing device to at least:

determine if first media monitoring data provided from a first meter identifies a same media as second media monitoring data provided from a second meter, the first meter and the second meter to monitor presented media at respective different locations;

if the first media monitoring data identifies the same media as the second media monitoring data, detect if spillover occurred by determining if an absolute value of a difference between a first timestamp associated with the first media monitoring data and a second timestamp associated with the second media monitoring data is less than a threshold; and

if spillover occurred, determine which of the first media monitoring data or the second media monitoring data to credit as a media exposure.

22. The computer readable medium of claim 21, wherein the threshold is a first time less than a second time that it takes an audio signal to travel to the first meter from a media presentation device associated with the second meter.

23. The computer readable medium of claim 21, wherein the instructions cause the computing device to credit both the first media monitoring data and the second media monitoring data if the first media monitoring data does not identify the same media as the second media monitoring data.

24. The computer readable medium of claim 21, wherein the instructions cause the computing device to determine whether to credit the first media monitoring data or the second media monitoring data by:

comparing the first timestamp of the first media monitoring data to the second timestamp of the second media monitoring data; and

determining if the first timestamp is earlier than the second timestamp.

25. The computer readable medium of claim 24, wherein the instructions cause the computing device to credit the first media monitoring data and to not credit the second media monitoring data if the first timestamp is earlier than the second timestamp.

26. The computer readable medium of claim 24, wherein the instructions cause the computing device to credit the second media monitoring data and to not credit the first media monitoring data if the first timestamp is later than the second timestamp.

27. The computer readable medium of claim 25, wherein the instructions cause the computing device to discard the second media monitoring data.

28. The computer readable medium of claim 25, wherein the instructions cause the computing device to mark the second media monitoring data as not credited.

29. The computer readable medium of claim 25, wherein crediting the first media monitoring data as the media exposure includes marking the first media monitoring data as credited.

30. The computer readable medium of claim 29, wherein the instructions cause the computing device to transmit the marked first media monitoring data to a central facility.