Granted Patent B2

US 9,860,000 · App. 15/281,463 · Granted Jan 2, 2018

Inventors: Dyon Anniballi (Wayne, PA); Philippe Generali (Scarsdale, NY)

Assignee: iHeartMedia Management Services, Inc.

H04H20/12G06F21/32H04H60/43H04H60/44H04H60/45H04H60/56H04L9/3231H04L63/0861H04L63/0869H04L65/403H04H2201/90

Abstract

Claims (69)

1. A method of identifying altered versions of broadcast content by an identification server:

for each broadcast media item of a plurality of different broadcast media items:

performing a loose-match comparison between a fingerprint of a base version of a media item and a fingerprint of a broadcast version of a media item to identify loose matches, by executing a program instruction in a processor of a computing device;

for each loose match identified by the loose-match comparison, performing a strict-match comparison between the loose match and the base version of the media item, by executing a program instruction in a processor of a computing device;

flagging loose matches that fail the strict-match comparison as potentially-altered versions, by executing a program instruction in a processor of a computing device;

comparing the potentially-altered versions to each other to identify altered versions of the base version of the media item, wherein potentially-altered versions that match each other are designated as an altered version, by executing a program instruction in a processor of a computing device;

generating a new fingerprint of the altered version, by executing a program instruction in a processor of a computing device; and

identifying matches to the altered version, at least in part, by performing at least one additional iteration of the loose-match comparison and the strict-match comparison using the new fingerprint of the altered version in place of the fingerprint of the base version, by executing a program instruction in a processor of a computing device.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

obtaining the fingerprint of the broadcast version of the media item from a substantially-continuous fingerprint representing content broadcast by a media station, by executing a program instruction in a processor of a computing device.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein obtaining the substantially-continuous fingerprint includes:

capturing content from a plurality of transmission sources during transmission of the content, by executing a program instruction in a processor of a computing device; and

generating a plurality of substantially continuous fingerprints, by executing a program instruction in a processor of a computing device.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

identifying additional altered versions of the base version of a media item by performing comparisons using both the fingerprint of the base version of a media item and the new fingerprint of the altered version.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

performing the loose-match comparison based on fingerprints of broadcast items obtained from a plurality of different broadcast media stations, by executing a program instruction in a processor of a computing device; and

performing the strict-match comparison across loose matches associated with multiple different broadcast media stations, by executing a program instruction in a processor of a computing device.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

wherein the strict-match comparison takes into account a margin of error for broadcast artifacts.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

storing the potentially-altered matches in a data construct representing a pool of failed strict-matches.

8. A system comprising:

at least one recorder configured to:

capture transmitted content associated with a media station;

generate a substantially-continuous fingerprint representing content transmitted by the media station;

a computing device including a processor and associated memory, the computing device configured to:

perform a loose-match comparison between a fingerprint of a base version of a media item and the substantially-continuous fingerprint to identify portions of the substantially-continuous fingerprint as loose matches to the base version of the media item, by executing a program instruction in a processor of a computing device;

for each loose match identified by the loose-match comparison, perform a strict-match comparison between the loose match and the base version of the media item, by executing a program instruction in a processor of a computing device;

flag loose matches that fail the strict-match comparison as potentially-altered versions of the base version of the media item, by executing a program instruction in a processor of a computing device;

compare the potentially-altered versions to each other to identify altered versions of the base version of the media item, wherein potentially-altered versions that match each other are designated as an altered version, by executing a program instruction in a processor of a computing device;

generate a new fingerprint of the altered version, by executing a program instruction in a processor of a computing device; and

identify matches to the altered version, at least in part, by performing at least one additional iteration of the loose-match comparison and the strict-match comparison using the new fingerprint of the altered version in place of the fingerprint of the base version, by executing a program instruction in a processor of a computing device.

9. The system of claim 8 , further comprising a plurality of recorders configured to:

capture transmitted content from a plurality of transmission sources during transmission of the content, by executing a program instruction in a processor of a computing device; and

generate a plurality of substantially continuous fingerprints, by executing a program instruction in a processor of a computing device.

10. The system of claim 8 , wherein the computing device is further configured to:

identify additional altered versions of the base version of a media item by performing comparisons using both the fingerprint of the base version of a media item and the new fingerprint of the altered version.

11. The system of claim 8 , wherein the computing device is further configured to:

perform the loose-match comparison based on fingerprints of broadcast items obtained from a plurality of different broadcast media stations, by executing a program instruction in a processor of a computing device; and

perform the strict-match comparison across loose matches associated with multiple different broadcast media stations, by executing a program instruction in a processor of a computing device.

12. The system of claim 8 , wherein the computing device is further configured to:

take into account a margin of error for broadcast artifacts when performing the strict-match comparison.

13. The system of claim 8 , wherein the computing device is further configured to:

store the potentially-altered matches in a data construct representing a pool of failed strict-matches.

14. A computing system configured to implement an identification server, the identification server comprising:

a processor;

memory operably associated with the processor;

a program of instructions configured to be stored in the memory and executed by the processor, the program of instructions including:

for each of a plurality of fingerprints associated with different media station broadcasts:

at least one instruction to perform a loose-match comparison between a fingerprint of a base version of a media item and a fingerprint of a broadcast version of a media item to identify loose matches, by executing a program instruction in a processor of a computing device;

for each loose match identified by the loose-match comparison, at least one instruction to perform a strict-match comparison between the loose match and the base version of the media item, by executing a program instruction in a processor of a computing device;

at least one instruction to flag loose matches that fail the strict-match comparison as potentially-altered versions, by executing a program instruction in a processor of a computing device;

at least one instruction to compare the potentially-altered versions to each other to identify altered versions of the base version of the media item, wherein potentially-altered versions that match each other are designated as an altered version, by executing a program instruction in a processor of a computing device;

at least one instruction to generate a new fingerprint of the altered version, by executing a program instruction in a processor of a computing device; and

at least one instruction to identify matches to the altered version, at least in part, by performing at least one additional iteration of the loose-match comparison and the strict-match comparison using the new fingerprint of the altered version in place of the fingerprint of the base version, by executing a program instruction in a processor of a computing device.

15. The computing system of claim 14 , wherein the program of instructions further includes:

at least one instruction to obtain the fingerprint of the broadcast version of the media item from a substantially-continuous fingerprint representing content broadcast by a media station, by executing a program instruction in a processor of a computing device.

16. The computing system of claim 15 , wherein the at least one instruction to obtain the substantially-continuous fingerprint includes:

at least one instruction to capture content from a plurality of transmission sources during transmission of the content, by executing a program instruction in a processor of a computing device; and

at least one instruction to generate a plurality of substantially continuous fingerprints, by executing a program instruction in a processor of a computing device.

17. The computing system of claim 14 , wherein the program of instructions further includes:

at least one instruction to identify additional altered versions of the base version of a media item by performing comparisons using both the fingerprint of the base version of a media item and the new fingerprint of the altered version.

18. The computing system of claim 14 , wherein the program of instructions further includes:

at least one instruction to perform the loose-match comparison based on fingerprints of broadcast items obtained from a plurality of different broadcast media stations, by executing a program instruction in a processor of a computing device; and

at least one instruction to perform the strict-match comparison across loose matches associated with multiple different broadcast media stations, by executing a program instruction in a processor of a computing device.

19. The computing system of claim 14 , wherein the strict-match comparison takes into account a margin of error for broadcast artifacts.

20. The computing system of claim 14 , wherein the program of instructions further includes:

at least one instruction to store the potentially-altered matches in a data construct representing a pool of failed strict-matches.

Assignments (16)

Continuity (5)