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US-12621072-B2 - Media identification using watermarks and signatures

US12621072B2US 12621072 B2US12621072 B2US 12621072B2US-12621072-B2

Abstract

Apparatus, systems, articles of manufacture, and methods to identify media using watermarks and signatures are disclosed. An example apparatus includes at least one memory, instructions, and processor circuitry to execute the instructions to: determine a first time and a category indicated by a watermark detected in the media, determine a search window based on the first time indicated by the watermark, the search window to at least one of (i) extend a first duration of time before the first time indicated by the watermark or (ii) extend a second duration of time after the first time indicated by the watermark, and compare (i) a query signature associated with a second time within the search window with (ii) a subset of reference signatures associated with the category to identify the media, the query signature generated from the media, the subset of reference signatures generated from reference media associated with the category.

Inventors

  • Daniel Nelson
  • Alexander Topchy
  • Jeremey M. Davis

Assignees

  • THE NIELSEN COMPANY (US), LLC

Dates

Publication Date
20260505
Application Date
20240912

Claims (20)

  1. 1 . A method comprising: determining a media identifier characterizing a media presented by a media device, wherein the media identifier is associated with a watermark detected in the media; determining a first match score for a query signature and one or more first reference signatures included in a first subset of reference signatures, wherein the query signature comprises a time value within a search window determined based on a time indicated by the watermark, and wherein the first subset of reference signatures is generated from reference media associated with the media identifier; and based on determining whether the first match score satisfies a threshold, determining a second match score for the query signature and one or more second reference signatures included in a second subset of reference signatures to identify the media presented by the media device, wherein the second subset of reference signatures is different from the first subset of reference signatures.
  2. 2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the threshold is a first threshold, and wherein the method further comprises: determining whether the second match score satisfies a second threshold, wherein the second threshold is higher than the first threshold.
  3. 3 . The method of claim 2 , further comprising: based on determining that the second match score for the query signature and a given reference signature included in the second subset of reference signatures satisfies the second threshold, crediting media presented by the media device as reference media associated with the given reference signature.
  4. 4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the second subset of reference signatures comprises the first subset of reference signatures.
  5. 5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the second subset of reference signatures is associated with a different media identifier than the media identifier associated with the watermark detected in the media.
  6. 6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the first match score and the second match score are each a numerical value that is a percentage value.
  7. 7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the second subset of reference signatures is larger than the first subset of reference signatures.
  8. 8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the media identifier comprises at least one of: a category associated with the watermark or a time of detection of the watermark.
  9. 9 . The method of claim 8 , wherein the category comprises at least one of: an advertisement or a media presentation channel.
  10. 10 . An audience measurement system comprising: a processor and a memory having stored thereon machine readable instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the audience measurement system to perform operations comprising: determining a media identifier characterizing a media presented by a media device, wherein the media identifier is associated with a watermark detected in the media; determining a first match score for a query signature and one or more first reference signatures included in a first subset of reference signatures, wherein the query signature comprises a time value within a search window determined based on a time indicated by the watermark, and wherein the first subset of reference signatures is generated from reference media associated with the media identifier; and based on determining whether the first match score satisfies a threshold, determining a second match score for the query signature and one or more second reference signatures included in a second subset of reference signatures to identify the media presented by the media device, wherein the second subset of reference signatures is different from the first subset of reference signatures.
  11. 11 . The audience measurement system of claim 10 , wherein the threshold is a first threshold, and wherein the operations further comprise: determining whether the second match score satisfies a second threshold, wherein the second threshold is higher than the first threshold.
  12. 12 . The audience measurement system of claim 11 , wherein the operations further comprise: based on determining that the second match score for the query signature and a given reference signature included in the second subset of reference signatures satisfies the second threshold, crediting media presented by the media device as reference media associated with the given reference signature.
  13. 13 . The audience measurement system of claim 10 , wherein the second subset of reference signatures comprises the first subset of reference signatures.
  14. 14 . The audience measurement system of claim 10 , wherein the second subset of reference signatures is associated with a different media identifier than the media identifier associated with the watermark detected in the media.
  15. 15 . The audience measurement system of claim 10 , wherein the first match score and the second match score are each a numerical value that is a percentage value.
  16. 16 . The audience measurement system of claim 10 , wherein the second subset of reference signatures is larger than the first subset of reference signatures.
  17. 17 . The audience measurement system of claim 10 , wherein the media identifier comprises at least one of: a category associated with the watermark or a time of detection of the watermark.
  18. 18 . The audience measurement system of claim 17 , wherein the category comprises at least one of: an advertisement or a media presentation channel.
  19. 19 . A non-transitory machine readable storage medium comprising instructions that, when executed, cause a processor to perform operations comprising: determining a media identifier characterizing a media presented by a media device, wherein the media identifier is associated with a watermark detected in the media; determining a first match score for a query signature and one or more first reference signatures included in a first subset of reference signatures, wherein the query signature comprises a time value within a search window determined based on a time indicated by the watermark, and wherein the first subset of reference signatures is generated from reference media associated with the media identifier; and based on determining whether the first match score satisfies a threshold, determining a second match score for the query signature and one or more second reference signatures included in a second subset of reference signatures to identify the media presented by the media device, wherein the second subset of reference signatures is different from the first subset of reference signatures.
  20. 20 . The non-transitory machine readable storage medium of claim 19 , wherein the threshold is a first threshold, and wherein the operations further comprise: determining whether the second match score satisfies a second threshold, wherein the second threshold is higher than the first threshold.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS This application arises from a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 17/688,569, titled “MEDIA IDENTIFICATION USING WATERMARKS AND SIGNATURES,” filed Mar. 7, 2022, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 16/744,648, titled “MEDIA IDENTIFICATION USING WATERMARKS AND SIGNATURES,” filed Jan. 16, 2020, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 16/117,900, titled “MEDIA IDENTIFICATION USING WATERMARKS AND SIGNATURES,” filed Aug. 30, 2018. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 17/688,569, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 16/744,648 and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 16/177,900 are hereby incorporated by reference in their respective entireties. Priority to U.S. patent application Ser. No. 17/688,569, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 16/744,648 and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 16/117,900 is claimed. FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE This disclosure relates generally to media monitoring, and, more particularly, to media identification using watermarks and signatures. BACKGROUND Media, such as a television broadcast, may be encoded with watermarks that, when detected, are decoded to identify the media that was presented. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is an example environment and system for media identification using watermarks and signatures that includes an example media identifier in accordance with the teachings of this disclosure. FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the example media identifier of FIG. 1 constructed in accordance with the teachings of this disclosure. FIG. 3 is a schematic map of watermarks and signatures over time that can be analyzed by the media identifier of FIGS. 1 and 2. FIG. 4 is a flowchart representative of machine readable instructions which may be executed to implement the example media identifier of FIGS. 1 and 2. FIG. 5 is a block diagram of an example processing platform structured to execute the instructions of FIG. 4 to implement the example media identifier of FIGS. 1 and 2. The figures are not to scale. In general, the same reference numbers will be used throughout the drawing(s) and accompanying written description to refer to the same or like parts. DETAILED DESCRIPTION Audience measurement entities (AMEs) desire knowledge on how users interact with media devices such as, for example, smartphones, tablets, laptops, televisions, smart televisions, radios, digital video recorders, digital media players, etc. In particular, AMEs want to monitor media presentations made at the media devices to, among other things, determine ownership and/or usage statistics of media devices, relative rankings of usage and/or ownership of media devices, types of uses of media devices (e.g., whether a device is used for browsing the Internet, streaming media from the Internet, etc.), other types of media device information, and/or other monitoring information including, for example, advertisements exposure, advertisement effectiveness, user behavior, purchasing behavior associated with various demographics, etc. As used herein, the term “media” includes any type of programming, content, and/or advertisements or commercials delivered via any type of distribution medium. Thus, media includes television programming or advertisements, radio programming or advertisements, movies, web sites, streaming media, etc. In examples disclosed herein, monitoring information includes, but is not limited to, media identifying information (e.g., media-identifying metadata, codes, signatures, watermarks, and/or other information that may be used to identify presented media), application usage information (e.g., an identifier of an application, a time and/or duration of use of the application, a rating of the application, etc.), and/or user-identifying information (e.g., demographic information, a user identifier, a panelist identifier, a username, etc.). Watermarks that are encoded with media and signatures extracted or derived from media may be used to identify the media. Watermarking is a technique used to identify media such as television broadcasts, radio broadcasts, advertisements (television and/or radio), downloaded media, streaming media, prepackaged media, etc. Some watermarking techniques identify media by embedding one or more codes (e.g., one or more watermarks), such as media identifying information and/or an identifier that may be mapped to media identifying information, into an audio and/or video component. In some examples, the audio or video component is selected to have a signal characteristic sufficient to hide the watermark. As used herein, the terms “code” or “watermark” are used interchangeably and are defined to mean any identification information (e.g., an identifier) that may be inserted or embedded in the audio or video of media (e.g., a program or advertisement) for the purpose of identifying the media or for another purpose such as tuning (e.g., a packet identifying header). To identify watermarked media,