The Nielsen Comapny (us), LLC

Gracenote, Inc.

International Data Matrix, Inc.

Other

Tokyo Electric Co.

The Nielson Company, LLC

Christen Voss Nielsen

Jeremey M Davis

Dan Nelson

Alexander Pavlovich Topchy

Daniel John Nelson

Timothy Scott Cooper

Charles Clinton Conklin

James Joseph Vitt

Douglas Brent Turnbow

David Howell Wright

Wendell D Lynch

David Gish

Venugopal Srinivasan

Andrej Barbis

Marko Usaj

Saso Vranek

Khaldun Karazoun

Ken Joseph Frett

John William Buonasera

Kevin Keqiang Deng

Mark Richard Cave

Arun Ramaswamy

Joseph Gregory Milavsky

Robert S Cymbalski

Scott Cooper

Mamoru Ishikawa

Larry D Patterson

Kenneth Paul Braman

Robert Joel Stokes

A method and system for adding overtly human-perceptible supplemental audio content into a media stream to help mask audio effects of an audio watermark in the media stream. A method involves receiving a media stream that defines a sequence of audio content presentable by a content presentation device, modifying the media stream to produce a modified media stream that defines the sequence of audio content, and outputting the modified media stream for presentation by the content presentation device. The modified media stream includes an audio watermark that is machine-detectable to trigger an interactive event. Further, the act of modifying the media stream involves adding into the media stream supplemental audio content coincident with the audio watermark, to help mask the audio watermark in the modified media stream during presentation of the modified media stream by the content presentation device.

Timely addition of human-perceptible audio to mask an audio watermark

Methods, apparatus, systems and articles of manufacture are disclosed for associating different watermarks detected in media. An example method disclosed herein includes determining whether a first watermark detected in a media signal is represented in a watermark data structure and associating the first watermark with a first media presentation record associated with a second watermark in response to the first watermark being associated in the watermark data structure with the second watermark. The example method further includes transmitting monitoring data including the first media presentation record to an audience measurement entity.

Apparatus and methods to associate different watermarks detected in media

Methods, apparatus, systems, and articles of manufacture to fingerprint an audio signal. An example apparatus disclosed herein includes an audio segmenter to divide an audio signal into a plurality of audio segments, a bin normalizer to normalize the second audio segment to thereby create a first normalized audio segment, a subfingerprint generator to generate a first subfingerprint from the first normalized audio segment, the first subfingerprint including a first portion corresponding to a location of an energy extremum in the normalized second audio segment, a portion strength evaluator to determine a likelihood of the first portion to change, and a portion replacer to, in response to determining the likelihood does not satisfy a threshold, replace the first portion with a second portion to thereby generate a second subfingerprint.

Methods and apparatus to fingerprint an audio signal

A method includes receiving, by a computing system, an audio signal, where the audio signal defines a segment of media content over time. The method also includes establishing by the computing system, based on the received audio signal, a normalized query frequency-domain representation of the received audio signal. The method further includes matching, by the computing system, the normalized query frequency-domain representation of the received audio signal with a correspondingly normalized reference frequency-domain representation of a reference audio signal having an associated identity. The method additionally includes based on the matching, determining by the computing system that an identity of the received audio signal is the associated identity of the reference audio signal.

Compensating for time scale differences between audio and other signals in fingerprinting and matching applications

Display device ON/OFF detection methods and apparatus are disclosed. Example display activity detectors disclosed herein are to extract regions from respective ones of captured video frames, the regions corresponding to a depiction of a display of a monitored media device Disclosed example display activity detectors are also to compute a distance metric that is to represent an amount a first one of the regions of a first one of the captured video frames differs from a corresponding second one of the regions of a second one of the captured video frames. Disclosed example display activity detectors are further to compare the distance metric to a threshold to determine whether the monitored media device is ON or OFF.

Display device on/off detection methods and apparatus

An example apparatus includes at least one processor circuitry to execute or instantiate instructions to identify a media file is scheduled to be accessed by a media device within a first time period after a publishing of the media file was published by a media provider; select a first symbol to be inserted at a first symbol position and a second symbol to be inserted at a second symbol position to identify an access of the media file is to be accessed by the media device within the first time period, the first symbol position in a first bit sequence, the second symbol position in a second bit sequence; encode the first bit sequence in the media file on a first encoding layer of a multilayered watermark, and encode the second bit sequence in the media file on a second encoding layer of the multilayered watermark.

Systems, apparatus, and methods to improve watermark detection in acoustic environments

Methods, apparatus, systems and articles of manufacture are disclosed to use station identification to enable confirmation of exposure to live media. Example apparatus disclosed herein include a watermark data segmenter to determine a media identifier conveyed by a watermark, a detection time determiner to determine a time at which a media meter detected the watermark from a media presentation by a media device, a reference identifier to query a library of reference signatures for a reference signature associated with the media identifier of the watermark and associated with a reference timestamp corresponding to the time at which the media meter detected the watermark, and a viewing type determiner to determine whether the media presentation is live or time-shifted based on whether a result of the query indicates the reference signature does not exist in the library of reference signatures.

Methods and apparatus to use station identification to enable confirmation of exposure to live media

Examples are disclosed to perform signature matching using noise cancellation models to achieve consensus. Example apparatus disclosed herein include a signature matcher to compare a first stream of monitored media signatures to streams of reference signatures representative of corresponding reference media to determine a first signature match, and compare a second stream of monitored media signatures to the streams of reference signatures to determine a second signature match; a match selector to use at least one the first signature match or the second signature match to identify a first one of the reference media corresponding to the monitored media data; and a creditor interface to output identification data for the first one of the reference media identified with the at least one the first signature match or the second signature match, the identification data to be used to credit a media exposure corresponding to the monitored media.

Methods and apparatus to perform signature matching using noise cancellation models to achieve consensus

Methods and apparatus to capture images are disclosed. An example apparatus disclosed herein includes an image sensor to observe a first image of a face, and a logic circuit to determine whether the face in the first image is in a first orientation with respect to the image sensor, and when the face in the first image is in the first orientation: trigger the image sensor to capture a second image of the face, and perform a facial recognition process on the second image, but not on the first image.

Methods and apparatus to capture images

Methods and apparatus are disclosed for supplementing partially readable and/or inaccurate codes. An example apparatus includes a watermark analyzer to select a first watermark and a second watermark decoded from media; a comparator to compare a first decoded timestamp of the first watermark to a second decoded timestamp of the second watermark; and a timestamp adjuster to adjust the second decoded timestamp based on the first decoded timestamp of the second watermark when at least a threshold number of symbols of the second decoded timestamp match corresponding symbols of the first decoded timestamp.

Methods and apparatus for supplementing partially readable and/or inaccurate codes in media

Apparatus, systems, articles of manufacture, and methods to identify and credit media using ratios of media characteristics are disclosed herein. Example apparatus to identify media include at least one memory, instructions, and at least one processor to execute the instructions to: determine a first ratio based on a first time interval and a second time interval of a monitored media signal; determine a second ratio based on the second time interval and a third time interval of the monitored media signal; generate a first ratio signature based on the first and second ratios; and initiate transmission of the first ratio signature to a recipient that is to compare the first signature with a second ratio signature to identify the media.

Methods and apparatus to identify and credit media using ratios of media characteristics

Growing community of inventors

Palm Harbor, FL, United States of America

Christen Voss Nielsen