Signal processing method for determining audience rating of media, and additional information inserting apparatus, media reproducing apparatus and audience rating determining apparatus for performing the same method

1. A method for enabling an audience rating of media to be determined, performed by an additional information inserting apparatus, the method comprising:

identifying a non-silence section and a silence section within a continuous section of an audio signal of the media;

extracting a fingerprint of the media from a sound present in the identified non-silence section; and

inserting additional information into the identified silence section via a noise signal,

wherein the fingerprint and the inserted additional information continuously identify the media to enable an audience rating determining apparatus to determine the audience rating of the media.

2. The signal processing method of claim 1 , wherein the identifying comprises:

identifying the non-silence section as a section in which the sound is present within the continuous section of the audio signal in a time domain; and

identifying the silence section as a section in which sound is absent within the continuous section.

3. The signal processing method of claim 1 , wherein

the non-silence section is a section in which a feature of the audio signal of the media is maintained, and

the silence section is a section in which the feature of the audio signal of the media is absent.

4. The signal processing method of claim 1 , wherein the noise signal occurs at a frequency band that is inaudible to a human.

5. The signal processing method of claim 1 , wherein the fingerprint includes information that specifies a sound present in the non-silence section before a viewer views the media, and is used to determine an audience rating with respect to the non-silence section within the continuous section of the audio signal.

6. The signal processing method of claim 1 , wherein the additional information identifies the media, and the fingerprint identifies the media.

7. A method for enabling an audience rating of media to be determined, performed by a media reproducing apparatus, the method comprising:

reproducing the media that is received from an additional information inserting apparatus;

extracting either one or both of a fingerprint of the media and additional information related to the media from each frame of an audio signal of the media;

determining one of the fingerprint and the additional information to be valid data; and

transmitting the valid data to an audience rating determining apparatus,

wherein the additional information is located in a plurality of silence sections within a continuous section of the audio signal as a noise signal, and

wherein the fingerprint and the inserted additional information continuously identify the media to enable the audience rating determining apparatus to determine the audience rating of the media.

8. The signal processing method of claim 7 , wherein the determining comprises:

determining a first fingerprint of the media to be the valid data, in response to the first fingerprint of the media being extracted from a sound present in the audio signal; and

determining the additional information to be the valid data, in response to a second fingerprint of the media being extracted from the noise signal that exists in the audio signal.

9. The signal processing method of claim 8 , wherein the determining further comprises ignoring the second fingerprint when the second fingerprint is extracted from the noise signal.

10. The signal processing method of claim 7 , wherein the valid data includes:

flag information to verify whether the fingerprint of the media is extracted from the audio signal or the additional information is extracted from the audio signal, and

time information related to a reproduction time of the media corresponding to the frame from which the fingerprint or the additional information is extracted.

11. The signal processing method of claim 7 , wherein the fingerprint includes information used to identify the media from a sound present in a non-silence section in which a feature of the audio signal is present in the continuous section of the audio signal, after the media is reproduced.

12. The signal processing method of claim 7 , wherein the transmitting of the valid data comprises:

transmitting the additional information to the audience rating determining apparatus, in response to the additional information being determined to be the valid data.

13. The signal processing method of claim 7 , wherein the additional information identifies the media, and the fingerprint identifies the media.

14. A method for determining an audience rating of media, performed by an audience rating determining apparatus, the method comprising:

receiving valid data determined for each frame of an audio signal of the media from a media reproducing apparatus;

determining which one of a fingerprint of the media and additional information related to the media is the valid data;

determining the audience rating of the media based on the valid data,

wherein the fingerprint is extracted from a non-silence section of the audio signal, and the additional information is extracted from a silence section of the audio signal, and

wherein the additional information identifies the media, and the fingerprint identifies the media.

15. The signal processing method of claim 14 , wherein the valid data includes:

flag information having a value of “0” or “1” to identify the fingerprint or the additional information as the valid data; and

time information related to a reproduction time of the fingerprint or the additional information.

16. The signal processing method of claim 15 , wherein the identifying comprises identifying the valid data as one of the fingerprint and the additional information.

17. The signal processing method of claim 14 , wherein the fingerprint includes information to identify the media from a sound present in the non-silence section in which a feature of the audio signal is present in the continuous section of the audio signal of the media.

18. The signal processing method of claim 14 , wherein the additional information related to the media includes information inserted into a noise signal to represent a feature of the media in the silence section in which a feature of the audio signal is absent in the continuous section of the audio signal of the media.

19. The signal processing method of claim 14 , wherein the determining of the audience rating of the media comprises:

comparing the fingerprint to an additional fingerprint extracted and stored through an additional information inserting apparatus; and

determining an audience rating of the media that is being viewed from the fingerprint, in response to detecting that the fingerprint and the additional fingerprint match.