Methods and apparatus to detect content skipping by a consumer of a recorded program

1. An apparatus to detect portions of a recorded program that were not played back in real time, comprising:

a time stamper to record a plurality of recording times in association with a recorded program, respective ones of the recording times indicating times of day at which respective sections of the recorded program were recorded;

a memory to store the recorded program;

a presentation time retriever to:

retrieve a first recording time of the recording times of a first section of the sections of the recorded program being played back;

retrieve a second recording time of the recording times of a second section of the sections of the recorded program being played back;

store the first recording time in association with a first playback time of the first section; and

store the second recording time in association with a second playback time of the second section; and

a detector to compare the first and second recording times to calculate a recording interval.

2. An apparatus as defined in claim 1 wherein the first playback time is to be provided by the time stamper.

3. An apparatus as defined in claim 1 wherein the recorded program is stored as a plurality of packets, and the time stamper is to record the recording times in headers of the packets.

4. An apparatus as defined in claim 1 further comprising a non-real time content identifier responsive to a detected difference between the recording interval and a playback interval to identify a portion of the recorded program that was not played back in real time.

5. An apparatus as defined in claim 4 wherein the non-real time content identifier is to identify the portion of the recorded program that was not played back in real time by:

comparing a start time of the recording interval associated with the portion of the recorded program that was not played back in real time to known start times associated with segments of the recorded program;

comparing an end time of the recording interval associated with the portion of the recorded program that was not played back in real time to known end times associated with segments of the recorded program; and

if the start time of the recording interval associated with the portion of the recorded program that was not played back in real time substantially matches the known start time of a first segment, and the end time of the recording interval associated with the portion of the recorded program that was not played back in real time substantially matches the known end time of the first segment, identifying the first segment as the portion of the recorded program that was not played back in real time.

6. An apparatus as defined in claim 5 wherein if the start time of the recording interval associated with the portion of the recorded program that was not played back in real time substantially matches the known start time of the first segment, and the end time of the recording interval associated with the portion of the recorded program that was not played back in real time substantially matches the known end time of a second segment, the non-real time content identifier is to identify the first segment, the second segment and any segments between the first and second segments as the portion of the recorded program that was not played back in real time.

7. An apparatus as defined in claim 5 wherein the start times and the end times of the recording interval associated with the portion of the recorded program that was not played back in real time are normalized to a broadcast duration of the recorded program.

8. An apparatus as defined in claim 4 wherein the non-real time content identifier is to identify the portion of the recorded program that was not played back in real time by:

comparing the recording interval associated with the portion of the recorded program that was not played back in real time to known intervals associated with segments of the recorded program; and

if the recording interval associated with the portion of the recorded program that was not played back in real time overlaps with at least a predetermined amount of at least one of the known intervals, identifying at least one segment associated with the at least one of the known intervals as the portion that was not played back in real time.

9. An apparatus as defined in claim 8 wherein the recording interval associated with the portion of the recorded program that was not played back in real time is normalized to a broadcast duration of the recorded program.

10. An apparatus as defined in claim 4 further comprising a recapture identifier to determine if a portion of the recorded program that was passed at a rate greater than real time was viewed in real time as a result of rewinding the recorded program.

11. An apparatus as defined in claim 10 wherein at least one of the time stamper, the memory, the detector or the presentation time retriever are located at a monitored home, and wherein at least one of the detector, the non-real time content identifier, or the recapture identifier are located at least one of a collection facility or a data logging device.

12. An apparatus as defined in claim 1 wherein the recorded program is stored in the memory as a plurality of data packets, and the recording times are stored in headers of the data packets.

13. An apparatus as defined in claim 12 wherein each of the recording times is stored in association with at least one respective packet.

14. An apparatus as defined in claim 1 wherein the first playback time is stored in a log entry data structure to be used to detect portions of the recorded program that were not played back in real time.

15. An apparatus as defined in claim 14 wherein the presentation time retriever is to store the first recording time in the log entry data structure in association with the first playback time.

16. An apparatus as defined in claim 1 wherein the presentation time retriever is to store the first recording time in association with the first playback time by storing the first recording time in a log entry data structure representative of the first playback time.

17. An apparatus as defined in claim 1 further comprising a difference detector to detect a difference between a playback interval and the recording interval, wherein the difference detector is to, in response to detecting the difference, indicate that a portion of the recorded program corresponding to the recording interval was not played back in real time.

18. An apparatus as defined in claim 1 wherein the recorded program is recorded on a local recording device from a broadcast signal.

19. An apparatus as defined in claim 18 wherein the local recording device comprises at least one of a digital video recorder, a set top box, a personal video recorder, or an analog video recorder.

20. An apparatus as defined in claim 1 wherein the presentation time retriever is to store at least one of a channel identifier, a broadcast station identifier, an input source code, a program identifier, a name of the recorded program, a universal network identifier, a universal program identifier, a digital recording device serial number, a tuner identification number, or a playback mode code in association with the first playback time.

21. An apparatus as defined in claim 1 wherein:

if the recording interval is zero then playback is determined to be paused for a duration of a corresponding playback interval,

if the recording interval has a first sign then a corresponding portion of the recorded program is determined to be played at a rate different than real time, and

if the recording interval has a second sign opposite the first sign then a rewind event is determined to have occurred.

22. A method of developing usage data with respect to a recorded program, comprising:

storing recording times in association with sections of the recorded program, wherein the recording times represent times of day at which respective ones of the sections were recorded;

playing back first and second ones of the sections;

storing a first one of the recording times corresponding to the first section in association with a first playback time of the first recorded section;

storing a second one of the recording times corresponding to the second section in association with a second playback time of the second recorded section; and

comparing, via a logic circuit, the first and second recording times to generate a recording interval.

23. A method for generating a playback information log file entry, comprising:

storing, via a logic circuit, a first timestamp in a log file indicative of when a stored program is played back, the first timestamp indicating a time of day;

storing, via the logic circuit, a first recording time of the stored broadcast in the log file, the first recording time identifying a time of day at which a first segment of the stored program was recorded; and

in response to detecting a difference between (1) a recording interval based on the first recording time and a second recording time and (2) a playback interval based on the first timestamp and a second timestamp, obtaining and storing, via the logic circuit, a program identifier in the log file corresponding to at least one of a start time of the recording interval or an end time of the recording interval.

24. A method as defined in claim 23 wherein the log file stores at least one of a broadcast channel number, an input source code for the stored program, a station name for a station that broadcast the stored program, a program name for the stored program, a universal station identifier for the station that broadcast the stored program, a universal network identifier, a universal program identifier, a digital recording device serial number, a tuner identification number, or a playback mode code for the stored program.

25. A tangible machine readable storage device comprising instructions that, when executed, cause a machine to at least:

store recording times in association with sections of a recorded program, wherein the recording times represent times of day at which respective ones of the sections were recorded;

store a first one of the recording times corresponding to the first section in association with a first playback time of the first recorded section;

store a second one of the recording times corresponding to the second section in association with a second playback time of the second recorded section; and

generate a recording interval by comparing the first and second recording times.