Dynamic control of fingerprinting rate to facilitate time-accurate revision of media content

1. A method comprising:

receiving, by a computing system, query fingerprints representing a media stream being received by a client, wherein the query fingerprints are generated by the client at a frame rate;

determining by a computing system that the media stream being received by the client is a known media stream, wherein the determining is based on a comparison by the computing system of (i) the query fingerprints generated at the frame rate with (ii) reference fingerprints representing the known media stream;

responsive to the determining, causing by the computing system the client to increase the frame rate at which the client generates the query fingerprints being received by the computing system;

using by the computing system the query fingerprints generated at the increased frame rate as a basis to establish synchronous lock between (i) true time defined along a timeline within the known media stream and (ii) client time defined according to a clock of the client;

using by the computing system the established synchronous lock as a basis to determine a client-time point at which the client should perform ad replacement in the media stream being received by the client; and

causing the client to perform, at the determined client-time point, the ad replacement.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the media stream being received by the client has a frame rate, and wherein the frame rate at which the client generates the query fingerprints is different than the frame rate of the media stream.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein performing the ad replacement at the determined client-time point comprises starting the ad replacement at the determined client-time point.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the computing system is implemented by a server in network communication with the client.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein causing the client to increase the frame rate at which the client generates the query fingerprints being received by the computing system comprises transmitting to the client a directive to which the client is configured to respond by increasing the frame rate at which the client generates the query fingerprints being received by the computing system.

6. The method of claim 4 , wherein causing the client to perform the ad replacement at the determined client-time point comprises transmitting to the client a content-revision directive indicating the determined client-time point.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein using the query fingerprints generated at the increased frame rate as a basis to establish synchronous lock between (i) true time defined along a timeline within the known media stream and (ii) client time defined according to a clock of the client comprises:

comparing the query fingerprints generated at the increased frame rate with reference fingerprints of the known media stream;

based on the comparing of the query fingerprints generated at the increased frame rate with the reference fingerprints of the known media stream, identifying at least one matching point defining a match between a query fingerprint and a reference fingerprint; and

establishing the synchronous lock based on a mapping between a client-time timestamp of the query fingerprint and a true-time timestamp of the reference fingerprint.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein using the established synchronous lock as a basis to determine the client-time point at which the client should perform the ad replacement in the media stream being received by the client comprises using the established synchronous lock as a basis to map a predefined true-time point at which the ad replacement should be performed in the known media stream to a corresponding client-time point at which the client should perform the ad replacement in the media stream being received by the client.

9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising provisioning the client with a replacement ad that the client is to substitute for an existing ad in the media stream being received by the client.

10. A computing system comprising:

a network communication interface through which to transmit and receive;

a processing unit;

non-transitory data storage; and

program instructions stored in the non-transitory data storage and executable by the processing unit to cause the computing system to carry out operations including:

identifying a media stream being received by a media client, wherein the identifying includes (i) receiving query fingerprints of the media stream, the received query fingerprints being generated by the media client at a frame rate, and (ii) matching the received query fingerprints with reference fingerprints of a known media stream,

responsive to identifying the media stream, transmitting to the media client a directive that causes the media client to increase the frame rate of generating the query fingerprints,

establishing, based on the query fingerprints generated by the media client at the increased frame rate, synchronous lock between true time defined along a timeline within the known media stream and client time defined according to a clock of the media client,

using the established synchronous lock as a basis to determine a client-time point at which the media client should perform ad replacement in the media stream being received by the media client, and

transmitting to the media client a directive that causes the media client to perform, at the determined client-time point, the ad replacement.

11. The computing system of claim 10 , wherein the media stream being received by the client has a frame rate, and wherein the frame rate at which the client generates the query fingerprints is different than the frame rate of the media stream.

12. The computing system of claim 10 , wherein performing the ad replacement at the client-time point comprises starting the ad replacement at the client-time point.

13. The computing system of 10 , wherein establishing the synchronous lock includes (i) receiving the query fingerprints generated by the media client at the increased frame rate, (ii) detecting at least one match between the query fingerprints generated by the media client at the increased frame rate and reference fingerprints of the known media stream, and (iii) correlating a true-time timestamp of the at least one match with a client-time timestamp of the at least one match.

14. The computing system of claim 10 , wherein using the established synchronous lock as a basis to determine the client-time point at which the media client should perform the ad replacement in the media stream being received by the media client comprises using the established synchronous lock as a basis to map a predefined true-time point at which the ad replacement should be performed in the known media stream to a corresponding client-time point at which the media client should perform the ad replacement in the media stream being received by the media client.

15. A non-transitory computer readable medium storing instructions executable by a processing unit to carry out operations comprising:

identifying a media stream being received by a client, wherein the identifying includes (i) receiving query fingerprints of the media stream, the received query fingerprints being generated by the client at a frame rate and (ii) matching the query fingerprints with reference fingerprints of a known media stream;

responsive to identifying the media stream, causing the client to increase the frame rate of generating the query fingerprints;

establishing, based on the query fingerprints generated by the client at the increased frame rate, synchronous lock between true time defined along a timeline within the known media stream and client time defined according to a clock of the client;

using the established synchronous lock as a basis to determine a client-time point at which the client should perform ad replacement in the media stream being received by the client; and

causing the client to start, at the determined client-time point, the ad replacement.

16. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 14 , wherein the media stream being received by the client has a frame rate, and wherein the frame rate at which the client generates the query fingerprints is different than the frame rate of the media stream.

17. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 15 , wherein causing the client to increase the frame rate of generating the query fingerprints comprises outputting for transmission to the client a directive to which the client is configured to respond by increasing the frame rate at which the client generates the query fingerprints.

18. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 15 , wherein causing the client to perform the ad replacement at the determined client-time point comprises outputting for transmission to the client a content-revision directive indicating the determined client-time point.

19. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 15 , wherein establishing the synchronous lock comprises:

comparing the query fingerprints generated by the client at the increased frame rate with reference fingerprints of the known media stream;

based on the comparing of the query fingerprints generated at the increased frame rate with reference fingerprints of the known media stream, identifying at least one matching point defining a match between a query fingerprint and a reference fingerprint; and

establishing the synchronous lock based on a mapping between a client-time timestamp of the query fingerprint and a true-time timestamp of the reference fingerprint.

20. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 15 , wherein using the established synchronous lock as a basis to determine the client-time point at which the client should start the ad replacement in the media stream being received by the client comprises using the established synchronous lock as a basis to map a predefined true-time point at which the ad replacement should be started in the known media stream to a corresponding client-time point at which the client should start the ad replacement in the media stream being received by the client.