Method and apparatus for automatically identifying a program including a sound signal

• US 5,581,800 A
• Filed: 06/07/1995
• Issued: 12/03/1996
• Est. Priority Date: 09/30/1991
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: The Nielsen Company LLC (MOOD Media Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Arbitron Inc. (MOOD Media Corporation)
• Inventors: Fardeau, Michel, Briend, Michel, Galant, Serge, Tommasi, Marc
• Primary Examiner(s): Eisenzopf, Reinhard J.
• Assistant Examiner(s): SOBUTKA, PHILIP
• Application Number:
  US08/476,499
• Time in Patent Office: 545 Days
• Field of Search: 455/2, 455/100, 455/68, 455/103, 348/1, 348/2, 348/907
• US Class Current: 455/2.01
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 20/14 for monitoring programmes
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 20/28 Arrangements for simultaneous broadcast of plural pieces of information
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 20/31 using in-band signals, e.g. subsonic or cue signal
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/37 for identifying segments of broadcast information, e.g. scenes or extracting programme ID
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/372 Programme
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/375 Commercial
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/40 for identifying broadcast time
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/43 for identifying broadcast channels
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/44 for identifying broadcast stations
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/45 for identifying 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

Abstract

A method and apparatus for automatically identifying a program broadcast by a radio station or by a television channel, or recorded on a medium, by adding an inaudible encoded message to the sound signal of the program, the message identifying the broadcasting channel or station, the program, and/or the exact date. In one embodiment the sound signal is transmitted via an analog-to-digital converter to a data processor enabling frequency components to be split up, enabling the energy in some of the frequency components to be altered in a predetermined manner to form an encoded identification message, and with the output from the data processor being connected via a digital-to-analog converter to an audio output for broadcasting or recording the sound signal. In another embodiment, an analog bandpass filter is employed to separate a band of frequencies from the sound signal so that energy in the separated band may be thus altered to encode the sound signal. The invention is particularly applicable to measuring the audiences of programs that are broadcast by radio or television, or that are recorded.

Claims

1. An apparatus for recovering an identification message encoded into an analog sound signal forming at least a part of a program, the identification message being encoded by modulating the energy of a component of a digitized sound signal in at least one band of audible frequencies thereof, the analog sound signal being reproduced by a loudspeaker, comprising:

an enclosure carryable on a person, microphone means within the enclosure for converting the analog sound signal reproduced by said loudspeaker into an electrical sound signal, means within the enclosure for detecting modulations in the energy of the electrical sound signal in said at least one band of audible frequencies, means within the enclosure for retrieving the identification message from the detected modulations, carry detection means for determining whether said apparatus is being carried by a person, and means within the enclosure for storing the identification message and for storing an indication of such determination whether said apparatus is being carried by a person.

2. Apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the carry detection means comprises motion detection means for detecting motion of said apparatus indicating that said apparatus is being carried by a person.

3. Apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the carry detection means comprises means for detecting body heat from a person carrying said apparatus.

4. A monitoring device for use in collecting information for estimating an audience for widely disseminated audio information while carried on the person of an individual audience member, said widely disseminated audio information including an inaudible identification code indicating a source thereof and included within at least one band of frequencies of said widely disseminated audio information by modulating an energy level of a component of a digitized sound signal within said at least one band of frequencies, comprising:

an enclosure;

means for attaching the enclosure to the person of an individual audience member;

transducer means for converting sounds including said widely disseminated audio information received thereby into a processing signal;

code extraction means for extracting the inaudible identification code from said processing signal by detecting said modulations to the energy level thereof within said at least one band of frequencies;

detector means for determining whether said monitoring device is being carried by a person; and

storage means for storing information from the extracted code indicating the source of said widely disseminated audio information and storing an indication of such determination whether said monitoring device is being carried by a person;

said transducer means, said code extraction means, said detector means and said storage means being carried within said enclosure.

5. The monitoring device of claim 4, wherein the detector means comprises motion detection means for detecting motion of said apparatus indicating that said apparatus is being carried by a person.

6. The monitoring device of claim 4, wherein the detector means comprises means for detecting body heat from a person carrying said apparatus.

7. An apparatus for recovering an identification message encoded into an analog sound signal forming at least a part of a program the identification message being encoded by modulating the energy of a component of a digitized sound signal in at least one band of audible frequencies thereof, the analog sound signal being reproduced by a loudspeaker, comprising:

microphone means for converting said analog sound signal reproduced by said loudspeaker into an electrical sound signal, means for detecting modulations in the energy of the electrical sound signal including means for extracting at least one frequency component of said electrical sound signal by one of analog filtering, digital Fourier transform and digital wavelet transform and for determining whether modulations in the energy of the electrical sound signal are present in said at least one frequency component, means for retrieving the identification message from the detected modulations, and means for storing the identification message in a memory.

8. A personal monitoring device for use in collecting information for estimating an audience for widely disseminated audio information while carried on the person of an individual audience member, the widely disseminated audio information including an inaudible identification code indicating a source thereof, the code produced by modulating a component of a digitized sound signal, comprising:

an enclosure;

a microphone within the enclosure and having an output terminal;

a data processing device w thin the enclosure and having an input coupled to the output terminal of the microphone, the data processing device being programmed to detect the identification code in a signal supplied by the microphone to the input of the data processing device;

a memory within the enclosure and coupled to the data processing device; and

a motion detector coupled with the data processing device to supply a motion detection signal thereto;

the data processing device ing programmed to store in the memory the detected identification code and an indication of whether the personal monitoring is being moved by a person based on the motion detection signal.