The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Apr. 15, 1997
Filed:
Jun. 07, 1995
Michael D Ellis, Boulder, CO (US);
Stephen M Dunn, Boulder, CO (US);
Michael W Fellinger, Boulder, CO (US);
Fancy B Younglove, Boulder, CO (US);
David M James, Fort Collins, CO (US);
David L Clifton, Boulder, CO (US);
Richard S Land, Lafayette, CO (US);
The Arbitron Company, Columbia, MD (US);
Abstract
The present invention relates to a method of producing a signature characterizing an interval of a video signal representing a picture for use in broadcast segment recognition. The signature is produced based on portions of the video signal representing corresponding regions of the picture. The invention also serves to produce a corresponding mast word including a plurality of bit values each representing a reliability of a corresponding value of the signature. The first signature is formed having a plurality of values each of which is based on a respective one of the portions of the video signal. A second signature is formed also having a plurality of values each based on respective ones of a plurality of shifted portions of the video signal. The shifted portions each corresponds to a respective one of the video signal portions and has a location displaced from a location of the respective one of the portions by a predetermined amount, such that each value of the first signature corresponds to a value of the second signature. The respective values of the first and second signatures are compared and bit values of the mask word are established based on this comparison.