Methods and apparatus to detect spillover

• US 10,264,301 B2
• Filed: 11/08/2017
• Issued: 04/16/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 07/15/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: The Nielsen Company LLC (MOOD Media Corporation)
• Original Assignee: The Nielsen Company LLC (MOOD Media Corporation)
• Inventors: Lee, Morris
• Primary Examiner(s): Chen, Cai Y
• Application Number:
  US15/807,177
• Publication Number:
  US 20180070117A1
• Time in Patent Office: 524 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 25/78 Detection of presence or absence of voice signals switching of direction of transmission by voice frequency in two-way loud-speaking telephone systems H04M9/10
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/31 Arrangements for monitoring the use made of the broadcast services
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/52 of users
• 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 21/252 Processing of multiple end-users' preferences to derive collaborative data
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/42203 sound input device, e.g. microphone
• 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 21/44204 Monitoring of content usage, e.g. the number of times a movie has been viewed, copied or the amount which has been watched monitoring of user activities for profile generation for accessing a video database G06F16/739; protecting generic digital content where the protection is independent of the precise nature of the content G06F21/10; arrangements for monitoring the use made of the broadcast services in broadcast systems H04H60/31
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4667 Processing of monitored end-user data, e.g. trend analysis based on the log file of viewer selections

Abstract

Methods and apparatus to improve the accuracy of crediting media exposure through detecting reverberation indicative of spillover are disclosed. An example apparatus includes a reverberation analyzer to identify a quantity of short durations of loudness in an audio signal of media presented by a media presentation device and calculate a ratio of the quantity of the short durations of loudness to a quantity of durations of loudness in the audio signal of the media, the quantity of the durations of loudness including the quantity of short durations of loudness. The example apparatus also includes a processor and memory in circuit with the processor, the memory including instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to mark the media as un-usable to credit a media exposure when the ratio does not satisfy a loudness ratio threshold.

Claims

1. An apparatus comprising:

a reverberation analyzer to;

identify a quantity of short durations of loudness in an audio signal of media presented by a media presentation device;

calculate a ratio of the quantity of the short durations of loudness to a quantity of durations of loudness in the audio signal of the media, the quantity of the durations of loudness including the quantity of short durations of loudness;

a processor; and

a memory in circuit with the processor, the memory including instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to;

store data denoting the media as un-usable to credit a media exposure based on the audio signal being spillover when the ratio does not satisfy a loudness ratio threshold.

2. The apparatus as defined in claim 1, wherein the short durations of loudness are identified based on a duration threshold.

3. The apparatus as defined in claim 1, wherein the reverberation analyzer is further to:

determine the durations of loudness in the audio signal of the media by identifying a first transition when a loudness flag transitions from a quiet-indicator value to a loud-indicator value, and identifying a second transition in the audio signal of the media when the loudness flag transitions from the loud-indicator value to the quiet-indicator value; and

determine a duration of one of the durations of loudness as a number of samples of the audio signal between the first transition and the second transition.

4. The apparatus as defined in claim 3, wherein the loudness flag is set to the quiet-indicator value when a sample of the audio signal satisfies a quiet threshold and a quiet length satisfies a quiet length threshold.

5. The apparatus as defined in claim 4, wherein the reverberation analyzer is further to:

increment the quiet length when the sample of the audio signal satisfies the quiet threshold; and

set the quiet length to zero when the sample of the audio signal does not satisfy the quiet threshold.

6. The apparatus as defined in claim 3, wherein the loudness flag is set to the loud-indicator value when a difference between a current sample of the audio signal and a previous sample of the audio signal satisfies a loud threshold.

7. The apparatus as defined in claim 3, wherein a sample duration range is incremented at the second transition, the sample duration range corresponding to the number of samples of the audio signal between the first transition and the second transition.

8. An apparatus comprising:

means for identifying a quantity of short durations of loudness in an audio signal of media presented by a media presentation device;

means for calculating a ratio of the quantity of the short durations of loudness to a quantity of durations of loudness in the audio signal of the media, the quantity of the durations of loudness including the quantity of short durations of loudness; and

means for detecting the audio signal as being spillover, the means for detecting the audio signal as being spillover to store data denoting the media as un-usable to credit a media exposure when the ratio does not satisfy a loudness ratio threshold, the storing of the data to improve an accuracy of the media exposure credit by excluding media having indications of spillover.

9. The apparatus as defined in claim 8, wherein the short durations of loudness are identified based on a duration threshold.

10. The apparatus as defined in claim 8, further including:

means for determining the durations of loudness in the audio signal of the media by identifying a first transition when a loudness flag transitions from a quiet-indicator value to a loud-indicator value, and identifying a second transition in the audio signal of the media when the loudness flag transitions from the loud-indicator value to the quiet-indicator value; and

means for determining a duration of one of the durations of loudness as a number of samples of the audio signal between the first transition and the second transition.

11. The apparatus as defined in claim 10, wherein the loudness flag is set to the quiet-indicator value when a sample of the audio signal satisfies a quiet threshold and a quiet length satisfies a quiet length threshold.

12. The apparatus as defined in claim 11, further including:

means for incrementing the quiet length when the sample of the audio signal satisfies the quiet threshold; and

means for setting the quiet length to zero when the sample of the audio signal does not satisfy the quiet threshold.

13. The apparatus as defined in claim 10, wherein the loudness flag is set to the loud-indicator value when a difference between a current sample of the audio signal and a previous sample of the audio signal satisfies a loud threshold, the loud threshold being based on a most recent dip value of the audio signal.

14. The apparatus as defined in claim 10, wherein a sample duration range is incremented at the second transition, the sample duration range corresponding to the number of samples of the audio signal between the first transition and the second transition.

15. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium comprising instructions that, when executed, cause a machine to at least:

determine a quantity of short durations of loudness in an audio signal of media presented by a media presentation device;

determine a ratio of the quantity of the short durations of loudness to a quantity of durations of loudness in the audio signal of the media, the quantity of the durations of loudness including the quantity of short durations of loudness; and

store data denoting the media as un-usable to credit a media exposure based on the audio signal being spillover when the ratio does not satisfy a loudness ratio threshold, the storing of the data to improve an accuracy of the media exposure credit by excluding media having indications of spillover.

16. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium as defined in claim 15, wherein the short durations of loudness are identified based on a duration threshold.

17. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium as defined in claim 15, wherein the instructions are further to cause the machine to:

determine the durations of loudness in the audio signal of the media by identifying a first transition when a loudness flag transitions from a quiet-indicator value to a loud-indicator value, and identifying a second transition in the audio signal of the media when the loudness flag transitions from the loud-indicator value to the quiet-indicator value; and

determine a duration of one of the durations of loudness as a number of samples of the audio signal between the first transition and the second transition.

18. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium as defined in claim 17, wherein the loudness flag is set to the quiet-indicator value when a sample of the audio signal satisfies a quiet threshold and a quiet length satisfies a quiet length threshold.

19. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium as defined in claim 18, wherein the instructions are further to cause the machine to:

increment the quiet length when the sample of the audio signal satisfies the quiet threshold; and

set the quiet length to zero when the sample of the audio signal does not satisfy the quiet threshold.

20. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium as defined in claim 17, wherein the loudness flag is set to the loud-indicator value when a difference between a current sample of the audio signal and a previous sample of the audio signal satisfies a loud threshold, the loud threshold being based on a most recent dip value of the audio signal.