Methods and apparatus to measure exposure to streaming media

• US 9,699,499 B2
• Filed: 04/30/2014
• Issued: 07/04/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 04/30/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nielsen & Company Incorporated (MOOD Media Corporation)
• Original Assignee: The Nielsen Company LLC (MOOD Media Corporation)
• Inventors: Besehanic, Jan
• Primary Examiner(s): Kumar, Pankaj
• Assistant Examiner(s): BOYD, ALEXANDER L
• Application Number:
  US14/266,118
• Publication Number:
  US 20150319490A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,161 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/258 Client or end-user data management, e.g. managing client capabilities, user preferences or demographics, processing of multiple end-users preferences to derive collaborative data arrangements for services using the result on the distributing side of broadcast systems H04H60/66; profiles in network data switching protocols H04L67/30
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/435 Processing of additional data, e.g. decrypting of additional data, reconstructing software from modules extracted from the transport stream
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/437 Interfacing the upstream path of the transmission network, e.g. for transmitting client requests to a VOD server flow control in data networks H04L47/10; streaming protocols, e.g. RTP or RTCP, H04L65/65; scheduling or organising the servicing of application requests in data packet switching networks H04L67/60
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44226 on social networks
• 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 21/6587 Control parameters, e.g. trick play commands, viewpoint selection

Abstract

Methods and apparatus to measure exposure to streaming media are disclosed. An example apparatus includes a metadata extractor to extract a series of metadata tags associated with media playing on a presentation device. The example apparatus includes a media event detector to detect a media event associated with the media playing on the presentation device. The example apparatus also includes a metadata selector to identify a subset of the series of metadata tags for reporting to a central facility. The subset includes a first metadata tag extracted approximate in time to the media event. The example apparatus further includes a transmitter to transmit the subset of the series of the metadata tags to a central facility.

Claims

1. An apparatus comprising:

a metadata extractor to extract a series of metadata tags associated with media playing on a presentation device, each of the metadata tags in the series of the metadata tags embedded in a different portion of the media, the metadata extractor to extract each of the metadata tags from the media when the corresponding different portion of the media is played;

a media event detector to detect a media event associated with the media playing on the presentation device;

a metadata selector to identify a first subset of the series of metadata tags for reporting to a central facility, the first subset including a first metadata tag extracted approximate in time to the media event; and

a transmitter to transmit the first subset of the series of the metadata tags to the central facility, the transmitter to omit from transmission to the central facility a second subset of the series of metadata tags, each of the metadata tags in the first and second subsets to be extracted at a different point in time from the media during presentation of the media on the presentation device, each of the metadata tags in the first subset to include a same type of information as each of the metadata tags in the second subset, at least one of the metadata extractor, the media event detector, the metadata selector, or the transmitter implemented by a processor executing instructions stored in a memory.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first metadata tag corresponds to a last metadata tag stored in the series of metadata tags before the media event.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first metadata tag corresponds to a next metadata tag in the series of metadata tags extracted after the media event.

4. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the first subset of the series of metadata tags includes a second metadata tag corresponding to a last metadata tag of the series of metadata tags extracted before a second media event, the second subset of the series of metadata tags corresponding to metadata tags extracted between the first and second metadata tags.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the media is associated with a first uniform resource locator accessed by the presentation device.

6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the media is first media, the media event corresponds to a change from a second uniform resource locator accessed by the presentation device to the first uniform resource locator, the second uniform resource locator associated with second media different than the first media associated with the first uniform resource locator.

7. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the metadata selector is to identify a second metadata tag associated with the second media for reporting to the central facility, the transmitter to transmit the second metadata tag with the first metadata tag, the first metadata tag and the second metadata tag indicative of an ending of the second media associated with the second uniform resource locator and a beginning of the first media associated with the first uniform resource locator.

8. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the second metadata tag is a last metadata tag extracted in time before the change from the second uniform resource locator to the first uniform resource locator, and the first metadata tag is a first metadata tag extracted after the change from the second uniform resource locator to the first uniform resource locator.

9. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first subset of the series of metadata tags includes additional metadata tags other than the first metadata tag to report to the central facility, adjacent ones of the additional metadata tags separated by at least one of a threshold number of intermediate metadata tags in the series or a threshold amount of time greater than a temporal spacing of the metadata tags embedded in the media.

10. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first subset of the series of metadata tags is transmitted to the central facility to reduce an amount of metadata transmitted to the central facility.

11. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the series of metadata tags corresponds to ID3 tags.

12. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the series of metadata tags are extracted independent of the media event.

13. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the type of information included in each of the metadata tags in the first and second subsets includes timestamp information, the timestamp information in each of the metadata tags in the first subset transmitted to the central facility, the timestamp information in each of the metadata tags in the second subset not transmitted to the central facility.

14. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the type of information included in each of the metadata tags in the first and second subsets includes media identifying information, the media identifying information in each of the metadata tags in the first subset transmitted to the central facility, the media identifying information in each of the metadata tags in the second subset not transmitted to the central facility.

15. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the type of information included in each of the metadata tags in the first and second subsets includes timestamp information and media identifying information, the timestamp and media identifying information in each of the metadata tags in the first subset transmitted to the central facility, the timestamp and media identifying information in each of the metadata tags in the second subset not transmitted to the central facility.

16. A method comprising:

extracting, with a processor, a series of tags associated with media playing on a presentation device, each of the tags in the series of the tags embedded in a different portion of the media, each of the tags extracted from the media as a result of the corresponding different portion of the media being played;

detecting, with the processor, an event associated with the media playing on the presentation device;

identifying, with the processor, a tag from the series of tags extracted approximate in time with the event to report to a central facility, each of the tags in the series of tags including a same type of information; and

transmitting the identified tag to the central facility, other tags in the series of tags not being transmitted to the central facility, the identified tag being extracted at a different point in time than the other tags.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the media is associated with a first uniform resource locator accessed by the presentation device.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the event corresponds to a change from the first uniform resource locator accessed by the presentation device to a second uniform resource locator.

19. The method of claim 16, wherein the event corresponds to a change in a player state of a media player, the method further including transmitting an indication of the change in the player state to the central facility.

20. The method of claim 16, wherein the event corresponds to at least one of a play event, a pause event, a stop event, a replay event, a rewind event, a forward event, or a skip event.

21. The method of claim 16, further including:

dropping all but a subset of the series of tags, the subset including the identified tag; and

transmitting only the subset to the central facility.

22. A tangible machine readable storage medium comprising instructions that, when executed, cause a machine to at least:

detect a request to access a first uniform resource locator by a presentation device to play media on the presentation device;

extract a series of metadata tags associated with the media while the media is playing on the presentation device, each of the metadata tags in the series of the metadata tags embedded in a different portion of the media, each of the metadata tags extracted from the media as a result of the corresponding different portion of the media being played;

transmit a first metadata tag from the series of metadata tags to a central facility, the first metadata tag extracted approximately when the media begins playing;

detect an event associated with the media playing on the presentation device; and

transmit a second metadata tag from the series of metadata tags to the central facility, the second metadata tag extracted approximate in time to the event, intermediate metadata tags included in the series of the metadata tags extracted temporally between the first metadata tag and the second metadata tag being discarded without transmitting to the central facility, the first and second metadata tags including a same type of information as each of the intermediate metadata tags.

23. The storage medium of claim 22, wherein the first metadata tag is a first tag extracted after the presentation device accesses the first uniform resource locator, the second metadata tag is a last tag extracted prior to the event.

24. The storage medium of claim 22, wherein the media is associated with the first uniform resource locator.

25. The storage medium of claim 24, wherein the event corresponds to a change from the first uniform resource locator accessed by the presentation device to a second uniform resource locator accessed by the presentation device.

26. The storage medium of claim 25, wherein the first metadata tag is indicative of a beginning of exposure of an audience of the presentation device to the media and the second metadata tag is indicative of an ending of the exposure of the audience to the media.

27. The storage medium of claim 22, wherein the instructions cause the machine to transmit additional metadata tags from the series of metadata tags to the central facility, adjacent ones of the additional metadata tags separated by at least one of a threshold number of metadata tags in the series or a threshold amount of time.