Methods and apparatus for generating signatures

• US 9,326,044 B2
• Filed: 11/07/2013
• Issued: 04/26/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 03/05/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: The Nielsen Company LLC (MOOD Media Corporation)
• Original Assignee: The Nielsen Company LLC (MOOD Media Corporation)
• Inventors: Topchy, Alexander Pavlovich, Ramaswamy, Arun, Srinivasan, Venugopal
• Primary Examiner(s): Elbin, Jesse
• Application Number:
  US14/074,499
• Publication Number:
  US 20140137146A1
• Time in Patent Office: 901 Days
• Field of Search: 700/94, 380/252, 380/253
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/683 using metadata automatically derived from the content
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 25/48 specially adapted for particular use
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/28 by using information signals recorded by the same method as the main recording G11B27/22 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 2201/90 characterised by the use of signatures
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/37 for identifying segments of broadcast information, e.g. scenes or extracting programme ID
• 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 60/66 for using the result on distributors' side
• 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 21/8358 involving watermark protecting executable software by watermarking G06F21/16; image watermarking in general G06T1/0021; watermarks inserted in still images for transmission purposes H04N1/32144; inserting watermarks during video coding H04N19/467

Abstract

Signaturing methods and apparatus as described. An example method includes applying a first function to a portion of digital data to produce a first windowed block, applying a second function different from the first function to the same portion of the digital data to produce a second windowed block, determining a first characteristic of a band of frequencies in the first windowed block, determining a second characteristic of the band of frequencies in the second windowed block, comparing the first characteristic to the second characteristic, and assigning a signature bit representative of the portion of the digital data based on the comparison of the first characteristic and the second characteristic.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

applying a first function to a portion of digital data to produce a first windowed block;

applying a second function different from the first function to the same portion of the digital data to produce a second windowed block;

determining a first characteristic of a band of frequencies in the first windowed block;

determining a second characteristic of the band of frequencies in the second windowed block;

comparing the first characteristic to the second characteristic; and

assigning a signature bit representative of the portion of the digital data based on the comparison of the first characteristic and the second characteristic.

2. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein the first and second functions include complimentary window functions.

3. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein the first window function and the second window function are selected from a set of window functions.

4. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein the digital data includes at least one of time series data, video information, a web page, a still image, or computer data.

5. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein the first and second characteristics include spectral flatness of the first and second windowed blocks.

6. An apparatus to generate a signature representing digital data, the apparatus comprising:

a windower to apply a first window function to a portion of digital data to produce a first windowed block and to apply a second window function to the portion of the digital data to produce a second windowed block;

a characteristic determiner to determine a first characteristic of a band of frequencies in the first windowed block and to determine a second characteristic of the band of frequencies in the second windowed block;

a comparator to compare the first characteristic to the second characteristic; and

a signature determiner to assign a signature bit representative of the portion of the digital data based on the comparison of the first characteristic and the second characteristic, at least one of the windower, the characteristic determiner, the comparator, or the signature determiner being implemented using a processor.

7. An apparatus as defined in claim 6, wherein the first and second functions include complimentary window functions.

8. An apparatus as defined in claim 6, wherein the first window function and the second window function are selected from a set of window functions.

9. An apparatus as defined in claim 6, wherein the digital data includes at least one of time series data, video information, a web page, a still image, or computer data.

10. An apparatus as defined in claim 6, wherein the first and second characteristics include spectral flatness of the first and second windowed blocks.

11. A computer readable storage medium, excluding propagating signals, comprising computer readable instructions which, when executed, cause a processor to at least:

apply a first function to a portion of digital data to produce a first windowed block;

apply a second function different from the first function to the same portion of the digital data to produce a second windowed block;

determine a first characteristic of a band of frequencies in the first windowed block;

determine a second characteristic of the band of frequencies in the second windowed block;

compare the first characteristic to the second characteristic; and

assign a signature bit representative of the portion of the digital data based on the comparison of the first characteristic and the second characteristic.

12. A storage medium as defined in claim 11, wherein the first and second functions include complimentary window functions.

13. A storage medium as defined in claim 11, wherein the first window function and the second window function are selected from a set of window functions.

14. A storage medium as defined in claim 11, wherein the digital data includes at least one of time series data, video information, a web page, a still image, or computer data.

15. A storage medium as defined in claim 11, wherein the first and second characteristics include spectral flatness of the first and second windowed blocks.