Methods and apparatus for identifying audio/video content using temporal signal characteristics
View Patent ↗Methods and apparatus for identifying audio/video content using temporal characteristics of a signal are disclosed. The disclosed apparatus and methods detect a plurality of signal features of a media signal derived from audio/video content and calculate time intervals between a plurality of those signal features to generate signatures. The signatures are then used to identify the audio/video content.
1. A method of identifying audio/video content, the method comprising:
receiving a media content signal:
determining a first time difference between a first peak value and a second peak value associated with the media content signal;
adding the first time difference and a second time difference to determine an index value of a signature;
querying a database based on the index value to form query results; and
identifying the media content signal based on a statistical analysis of the query results.
2. A method as defined in claim 1 , wherein the index value is a hash key.
3. A method as defined in claim 1 , determining an N-tuple including the first time difference and the second time difference.
4. A method as defined in claim 3 , wherein determining the index value comprises determining a hash value associated with the elements in an N-tuple.
5. A method as defined in claim 1 , wherein the database comprises a hash table.
6. A method as defined in claim 1 , further comprising adjusting result values associated with the query results based on a third time difference between time stamp data associated with a first one of the elements of the signature and time stamp data associated with a second one of the elements of the signature.
7. A method as defined in claim 6 , further comprising offsetting the time stamp data associated with the query results based on the third time difference.
8. A method as defined in claim 1 , wherein identifying the media content signal based on the statistical analysis of the query results comprises:
generating a histogram of the query results;
identifying a most frequently occurring search result; and
comparing a frequency of the most frequently occurring search result to a predetermined threshold.
9. A method as defined in claim 1 , further comprising offsetting at least one of the elements of the signature before calculating the index value.
10. An apparatus for identifying audio/video content, comprising:
a memory; and
a processor coupled to the memory and programmed to:
receive a media content signal;
determine a first time difference between a first peak value and a second peak value associated with the media content signal;
add the first time difference and a second time difference to determine an index value of a signature;
query a database based on the index value; and
identify the media content signal based on a statistical analysis of query results.
11. An apparatus as defined in claim 10 , determining an N-tuple including the first time difference and the second time difference.
12. An apparatus as defined in claim 10 , wherein the processor is programmed to determine the index value by determining a hash value associated with the elements in an N-tuple associated with each index value, wherein the N-tuple comprises a plurality of time values.
13. An apparatus as defined in claim 12 , wherein the database comprises a hash table.
14. An apparatus as defined in claim 10 , wherein the processor is programmed to identify the media content signal based on the statistical analysis of query results by:
generating a histogram of the query results;
identifying a most frequently occurring query result; and
comparing a frequency of the most frequently occurring query result to a predetermined threshold.
15. A machine readable medium having instructions stored thereon that, when executed, cause a machine to:
receive a media content signal;
determine a first time difference between a first peak value and a second peak value associated with the media content signal;
add the first time difference and a second time difference to determine an index value of a signature;
query a database based on the index value; and
identify the media content signal based on a statistical analysis of query results.
16. A machine readable medium as defined in claim 15 having instructions stored thereon that, when executed, cause a machine to:
generate a histogram of the query results;
identify a most frequently occurring search result; and
compare a frequency of the most frequently occurring search result to a predetermined threshold.
17. A machine readable medium as defined in claim 15 having instructions stored thereon that, when executed, cause a machine to offset time stamp data associated with the query results based on a third time difference between time stamp data associated with a first element of the signature and time stamp data associated with a second element of the signature.
18. A machine readable medium as defined in claim 15 having instructions stored thereon that, when executed, cause a machine to offset an element of the signature before determining the index value.