Use of watermarking to control abandonment of dynamic content modification

1. A method comprising:

detecting occurrence of a trigger event for causing a content presentation device to abandon a dynamic content modification with respect to a media stream being delivered to the content presentation device, wherein the detecting the occurrence of the trigger event comprises detecting presence of emergency content in the media stream that is being delivered to the content presentation device; and

responsive to detecting the occurrence of the trigger event, encoding an abandonment-watermark into the media stream coincident with the detected emergency content in the media stream being delivered to the content presentation device, wherein the abandonment-watermark is interpretable by the content presentation device to cause the content presentation device to abandon the dynamic content modification.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the method is carried out between a time when the content presentation device has received a directive to carry out the dynamic content modification and a time when the content presentation device would start applying the dynamic content modification, and wherein abandoning the dynamic content modification comprises forgoing the dynamic content modification.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the method is carried out while the content presentation device is applying the dynamic content modification, and wherein abandoning the dynamic content modification comprises discontinuing the dynamic content modification.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the dynamic content modification comprises dynamic ad insertion.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the dynamic content modification is responsive to fingerprint-based automatic content recognition.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein detecting the presence of emergency content in the media stream that is being delivered to the content presentation device comprises detecting in the media stream one or more predefined audio signals indicative of presence of the emergency content in the media stream.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein detecting the trigger event is carried out by at least one entity involved with delivering the media stream to the content presentation device.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein encoding the abandonment-watermark into the media stream is carried out by at least one entity involved with delivering the media stream to the content presentation device.

9. The method of claim 6 , wherein detecting in the media stream the one or more audio signals indicative of presence of the emergency content in the media stream comprises detecting in the media stream one or more Emergency Alert System tones.

10. A system comprising:

a network communication interface;

a processing unit;

non-transitory data storage; and

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

detecting occurrence of a trigger event for causing a content presentation device to abandon a dynamic content modification with respect to a media stream being delivered to the content presentation device, wherein the detecting the occurrence of the trigger event comprises detecting presence of emergency content in the media stream that is being delivered to the content presentation device, and

responsive to detecting the occurrence of the trigger event, encoding an abandonment-watermark into the media stream coincident with the detected emergency content in the media stream being delivered to the content presentation device, wherein the abandonment-watermark is interpretable by the content presentation device to cause the content presentation device to abandon the dynamic content modification.

11. The system of claim 10 , wherein the program instructions are executable to carry out the operations between a time when the content presentation device has received a directive to carry out the dynamic content modification and a time when the content presentation device would start applying the dynamic content modification, and wherein abandoning the dynamic content modification comprises forgoing the dynamic content modification.

12. The system of claim 10 , wherein the program instructions are executable to carry out the operations while the content presentation device is applying the dynamic content modification, and wherein abandoning the dynamic content modification comprises discontinuing the dynamic content modification.

13. The system of claim 10 , wherein the dynamic content modification comprises dynamic ad insertion.

14. The system of claim 10 , wherein the dynamic content modification is responsive to fingerprint-based automatic content recognition.

15. The system of claim 10 , wherein detecting the presence of emergency content in the media stream that is being delivered to the content presentation device comprises detecting in the media stream one or more predefined audio signals indicative of presence of the emergency content in the media stream.

16. The system of claim 10 , wherein the system is disposed at least in part at an entity involved with delivering the media stream to the content presentation device.

17. The system of claim 15 , wherein detecting in the media stream the one or more audio signals indicative of presence of the emergency content in the media stream comprises detecting in the media stream one or more Emergency Alert System tones.

18. A non-transitory computer-readable medium embodying program instructions executable by one or more processors to carry out operations comprising:

detecting occurrence of a trigger event for causing a content presentation device to abandon a dynamic content modification with respect to a media stream being delivered to the content presentation device, wherein the detecting occurrence of the trigger event comprises detecting presence of emergency content in the media stream that is being delivered to the content presentation device; and

responsive to detecting the occurrence of the trigger event, encoding an abandonment-watermark into the media stream coincident with the detected emergency content in the media stream being delivered to the content presentation device, wherein the abandonment-watermark is interpretable by the content presentation device to cause the content presentation device to abandon the dynamic content modification.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 18 , wherein the program instructions are executable to carry out the operations between a time when the content presentation device has received a directive to carry out the dynamic content modification and a time when the content presentation device would start applying the dynamic content modification, and wherein abandoning the dynamic content modification comprises forgoing the dynamic content modification.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 18 , wherein the program instructions are executable to carry out the operations while the content presentation device is applying the dynamic content modification, and wherein abandoning the dynamic content modification comprises discontinuing the dynamic content modification.