Apparatus, System and Method for Reading Codes From Digital Audio on a Processing Device

1 . A processing device, comprising:

an audio input configured to receive digital audio from one of (i) a computer network and (ii) a digital media file;

a memory, operatively coupled to the audio input;

a processing apparatus, communicatively coupled to the audio input, wherein the processing apparatus is configured to activate a decoder application on said processing device to transform the received digital audio from a time domain to a frequency domain and store the transformed digital audio in the memory;

wherein the decoding application is configured to process the stored digital audio using a decoder application interface to determine the presence of ancillary codes encoded into the digital audio, wherein the ancillary codes identify at least one characteristic of the digital audio.

2 . The processing device of claim 1 , wherein the decoding application is configured to communicate with a media player application In the processing device.

3 . The processing device of claim 2 , wherein the media player application is configured to communicate with a core services layer in the processing device.

4 . The processing device of claim 1 , wherein the transformed digital audio comprises audio transformed via fast Fourier transform (FFT).

5 . The processing device of claim 1 , wherein the decoding application produces a plurality of symbol values for each code symbol of the ancillary codes, said symbol values representing one of digital audio signal energy, power and amplitude.

6 . The processing device of claim 5 , wherein the decoding application accumulates symbol values over time and processes the accumulated symbol values to determine the presence of ancillary codes encoded into the digital audio.

7 . The processing device of claim 1 , wherein the ancillary codes comprise single frequency code components.

8 . A processor-based method for configuring a processing device to read ancillary codes embedded in digital audio, comprising:

receiving digital audio at an input of the processing device from one of (i) a computer network and (ii) a digital media file; and

configuring a processor on the processing device to activate a decoder application on said processing device to transform the received digital audio from a time domain to a frequency domain and store the transformed digital audio in a memory;

wherein the decoding application is configured to process the stored digital audio using a decoder application interface to determine the presence of ancillary codes encoded into the digital audio, wherein the ancillary codes identify at least one characteristic of the digital audio.

9 . The method of claim 8 , wherein the decoding application is configured to communicate with a media player application In the processing device.

10 . The method of claim 9 , wherein the media player application is configured to communicate with a core services layer in the processing device.

11 . The method of claim 8 , wherein the transformed digital audio comprises audio transformed via fast Fourier transform (FFT).

12 . The method of claim 8 , wherein the decoding application produces a plurality of symbol values for each code symbol of the ancillary codes, said symbol values representing one of digital audio signal energy, power and amplitude.

13 . The method of claim 12 , wherein the decoding application accumulates symbol values over time and processes the accumulated symbol values to determine the presence of ancillary codes encoded into the digital audio.

14 . The method of claim 8 , wherein the ancillary codes comprise single frequency code components.

15 . A computer program product, comprising a computer usable medium having a computer readable program code tangibly embodied therein, said computer readable program code adapted to be executed to implement a method for reading ancillary code from digital audio, said method comprising:

sampling the digital audio from an input of the processing device, said input being configured to receive the digital audio from one of (i) a computer network and (ii) a digital media file; and

activating a decoder application on said processing device to transform the received digital audio from a time domain to a frequency domain and store the transformed digital audio in a memory;

wherein the decoding application is configured to process the stored digital audio using a decoder application interface to determine the presence of ancillary codes encoded into the digital audio, and wherein the ancillary codes identify at least one characteristic of the digital audio.

15 . The computer program product of claim 14 , wherein the decoding application is configured to communicate with a media player application. In the processing device.

16 . The computer program product of claim 15 , wherein the media player application is configured to communicate with a core services layer in the processing device.

17 . The computer program product of claim 14 , wherein the transformed digital audio comprises audio transformed via fast Fourier transform (FFT).

18 . The computer program product of claim 14 , wherein the decoding application produces a plurality of symbol values for each code symbol of the ancillary codes, said symbol values representing one of digital audio signal energy, power and amplitude.

19 . The computer program product of claim 18 , wherein the decoding application accumulates symbol values over time and processes the accumulated symbol values to determine the presence of ancillary codes encoded into the digital audio.

20 . The computer program product of claim 14 , wherein the ancillary codes comprise single frequency code components.