| Patent application number | Description | Published |
|---|
| 20080215315 | METHODS AND APPRATUS FOR CHARACTERIZING MEDIA - Methods and apparatus for characterizing media are described. In one example, a method of characterizing media includes capturing a block of audio; converting at least a portion of the block of audio into a frequency domain representation including a plurality of complex-valued frequency components; defining a band of complex-valued frequency components for consideration; determining a decision metric using the band of complex-valued frequency components; and determining a signature bit based on a value of the decision metric. Other examples are shown and described. | 09-04-2008 |
| 20080235077 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS TO IDENTIFY INTENTIONALLY PLACED PRODUCTS - Systems and methods to identify intentionally placed products in media content are disclosed. A disclosed system to detect intentionally placed products in media content includes a placement monitor site to record an occurrence of a first intentionally placed product within first broadcast media content in a product placement record; an audience measurement site to record an audience interaction with a second intentionally placed product in second broadcast media content in an event record; and a collection facility to receive the product placement record and the event record | 09-25-2008 |
| 20080249961 | DIGITAL RIGHTS MANAGEMENT AND AUDIENCE MEASUREMENT SYSTEMS AND METHODS - Digital rights management and audience measurement systems and methods are disclosed. An example method includes receiving a request to upload media content to a content distributor, attempting to obtain a code associated with the media content, querying a program information database for program information associated with the media content using the code, and applying a business rule to the media content based on the program information. | 10-09-2008 |
| 20080263579 | METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR METERING PORTABLE MEDIA PLAYERS - Example methods, apparatus, and articles of manufacture to collect metering information associated with media presented by portable and computer media presentation devices are disclosed. A disclosed example method accesses a first data structure including metering information generated by at least one of first media presentation software executed by a personal computer or second media presentation software executed by a portable media presentation device. The metering information is associated with media presented by at least one of the first or second media presentation software. At least some of the metering information is then extracted from the first data structure and stored in a second data structure. The at least some of the metering information is then communicated from the second data structure to a data collection facility. | 10-23-2008 |
| 20080294647 | METHODS AND APPARATUS TO MONITOR CONTENT DISTRIBUTED BY THE INTERNET - Methods and apparatus to monitor content distributed by the Internet are disclosed. An example method includes requesting a really simply syndication (RSS) feed file associated with a received topic identification, receiving the RSS feed file identifying a first media content, extracting a first resource identifier for the first media content from the RSS feed file, retrieving the first media content using the first resource identifier, at least one of extracting a first content identification code from the first media content and generating a first signature for the first media content, and storing at least one of the first content identification code and the first signature in a memory. | 11-27-2008 |
| 20080318672 | METHODS AND APPARATUS TO METER VIDEO GAME PLAY - Methods and apparatus to meter video game play are described. An example apparatus to meter video game play includes a tag to be attached to a video game controller, the tag having a sensor to detect a user interaction with the video game controller. The apparatus also includes a meter to receive information reflecting the user interaction. | 12-25-2008 |
| 20080320508 | Methods and Apparatus to Monitor Media Content on a Consumer Network - Example methods and apparatus to monitor media content on a consumer network as described herein. An example metering system includes a metering device to monitor the consumption of media content at a consumer location and a universal plug and play (UPnP) compatible metering helper to collect audience measurement data from UPnP devices in a consumer network. | 12-25-2008 |
| 20090055854 | METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR COOPERATOR INSTALLED METERS - Methods and apparatus for cooperator installed meters are disclosed. An example method includes receiving audience information, configuring the audience meter based on the audience information, placing the audience meter in a sleep mode, and shipping the audience meter to a location associated with the audience information. | 02-26-2009 |
| 20090070797 | METHODS, SYSTEMS, AND APPARATUS FOR MULTI-PURPOSE METERING - Methods and apparatus for multi-purpose metering are disclosed. An example method includes acquiring a rate of data transfer to/from the monitored location and comparing the acquired rate of data transfer to a threshold. The example method also includes setting at least one media monitoring device in a first bandwidth mode when the acquired rate of data transfer exceeds the threshold, and setting the at least one media monitoring device in a second bandwidth mode when the acquired rate of data transfer is below the threshold. | 03-12-2009 |
| 20090119695 | METHODS AND APPARATUS TO COLLECT MEDIA EXPOSURE INFORMATION - Methods and apparatus to collect media exposure information are described. An example apparatus includes an identifier card including a plurality of machine readable codes corresponding to one or more media stations and a metering device including a scanner to read a first one of the codes and a memory to record media exposure information identifying exposure of a user to a media station associated with the first one of the codes, the media information being stored in association with a timestamp corresponding to a time at which the first one of the codes was read. | 05-07-2009 |
| 20090210892 | METHODS AND APPARATUS TO MONITOR ADVERTISEMENT EXPOSURE - Methods and apparatus to monitor advertisement exposure are disclosed. An example method includes determining via a meter that a media content segment was presented at a media content presentation device and determining via an activity monitor different than the meter that a computing resource related to the media content segment was accessed by outputting an indication of an association between the computing resource access and the media content presentation after the presentation of the media content segment. | 08-20-2009 |
| 20090222848 | Systems and Methods to Wirelessly Meter Audio/Visual Devices - Example systems and methods to wirelessly meter audio/visual (A/V) devices are disclosed. A disclosed example method receives media content from an A/V source device, embeds a video overlay in the wirelessly received media content, and wirelessly transmits the media content and the video overlay to the wireless A/V device. The example method wirelessly receives audience identification information in response to the transmitted video overlay, and wirelessly receives audience behavior information. | 09-03-2009 |
| 20090256972 | METHODS AND APPARATUS TO GENERATE AND USE CONTENT-AWARE WATERMARKS - Methods and apparatus to generate and use content-aware watermarks are disclosed herein. In a disclosed example method, media composition data is received and at least one word present in an audio track of the media composition data is selected. The word is then located in a watermark. | 10-15-2009 |
| 20090259325 | METHODS AND APPARATUS TO PERFORM AUDIO WATERMARKING AND WATERMARK DETECTION AND EXTRACTION - Encoding and decoding methods and apparatus as described. In one example, a method of embedding auxiliary information into an audio signal includes sampling the audio signal to create an audio block; receiving a code; determining frequency components that will be used to represent the code, wherein different sets of frequency components represent respectively different information and wherein one frequency component from each set of frequency components is located in a code band and there are multiple code bands and spacing between adjacent code bands is equal to or less than the spacing between adjacent frequency components of each code band; determining amplitudes of the frequency components that will be used to represent the information, wherein the amplitudes of the frequency components are determined by a masking ability of the audio block; synthesizing the frequency components that will be used to represent the information, wherein the frequency components are synthesized with the determined amplitudes; and combining the synthesized code frequency components with the audio block. | 10-15-2009 |
| 20090287433 | SYSTEM AND METHODS FOR METERING AND ANALYZING ENERGY CONSUMPTION OF EVENTS WITHIN A PORTABLE DEVICE - System and methods to determine the energy consumption per event type from usage data of portable devices are described. A disclosed example method includes receiving data associated with events on a portable device, analyzing the received data to determine an energy consumption per an event type of the portable device, and reporting the energy consumption per the event type for the portable device. | 11-19-2009 |
| 20090290756 | METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR DETECTING A COMPOSITION OF AN AUDIENCE OF AN INFORMATION PRESENTING DEVICE - Methods and apparatus for detecting a composition of an audience of an information presenting device are disclosed. A disclosed example method includes: capturing at least one image of the audience; determining a number of people within the at least one image; prompting the audience to identify its members if a change in the number of people is detected based on the number of people determined to be within the at least one image; and if a number of members identified by the audience is different from the determined number of people after a predetermined number of prompts of the audience, adjusting a value to avoid excessive prompting of the audience. | 11-26-2009 |
| 20090300669 | PORTABLE MULTI-PURPOSE AUDIENCE MEASUREMENT SYSTEMS, APPARATUS AND METHODS - Portable multi-purpose audience measurement systems, apparatus and methods are disclosed. An example method to monitor a media presentation device disclosed herein comprises sensing a media content signal output by the media presentation device using a portable device separate from the media presentation device, the portable device supporting media metering functionality and native functionality, attempting to detect a code encoded in the sensed media content signal using the portable device, and generating a signature from the sensed media content signal using the portable device when the portable device is electrically coupled to an external power supply or the portable device has at least a threshold amount of local battery power, but not generating the signature when the portable device is not electrically coupled to the external power supply and the portable device does not have at least the threshold amount of local battery power. | 12-03-2009 |
| 20090326807 | METHODS AND APPARATUS TO MONITOR SHOPPERS IN A RETAIL ENVIRONMENT - Methods and apparatus to monitor shoppers in a retail environment are disclosed herein. In a disclosed example method, a first signal is transmitted via a first device in a first direction to a second device and a second signal is transmitted via the first device in a second direction to a third device associated with a shopper. A direction of travel of the third device is determined based on the first signal and a path of travel of the third device through a monitored establishment is determined based on the second signal. | 12-31-2009 |
| 20100077424 | METHODS AND APPARATUS TO DISTINGUISH A SIGNAL ORIGINATING FROM A LOCAL DEVICE FROM A BROADCAST SIGNAL - Methods and apparatus to distinguish a signal originating from a local device from a broadcast signal are disclosed. A disclosed example method includes analyzing a first predetermined characteristic of a video component of the audio-video signal to generate a first indication of the source of the audio-video signal, analyzing a second predetermined characteristic of an audio component of the audio-video signal to generate a second indication of the source of the audio-video signal, and determining if the audio-video signal was generated by a local device based on the first and second indications. | 03-25-2010 |
| 20100115573 | METHODS AND APPARATUS TO VERIFY PRESENTATION OF MEDIA CONTENT - Example methods and apparatus to verify presentation of media content are disclosed. A disclosed example apparatus for use with a set-top box (STB) and a media presentation device includes an audio input interface to receive a first audio signal associated with a program selected by a user via the STB, a microphone to receive a free-field radiating second audio signal output by at least one of the media presentation device or an audio system associated with the media presentation device, a comparator to compare the second audio signal to the first audio signal to form an output, and an output interface to provide a value indicative of whether the program selected by the user via the STB is presented at the media presentation device. | 05-06-2010 |
| 20100134278 | METHODS AND APPARATUS TO ENCODE AND DECODE AUDIO FOR SHOPPER LOCATION AND ADVERTISEMENT PRESENTATION TRACKING - Methods and apparatus to encode and decode audio for shopper location and advertisement presentation tracking are disclosed. A method for tracking a shopper includes receiving a first audio signal at a first location with a decoder attached to a shopping implement, determining a first code encoded in the first audio signal, receiving a second audio signal at a second location with the decoder, determining a second code encoded in the first audio signal, and transmitting the first code and the second code to a data retrieval device. | 06-03-2010 |
| 20100151816 | METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR ASSOCIATING MEDIA DEVICES WITH A DEMOGRAPHIC COMPOSITION OF A GEOGRAPHIC AREA - Example methods and apparatus for associating media devices with a demographic composition of a geographic area are disclosed. A disclosed example method includes receiving a plurality of Internet Protocol addresses assigned to a media device associated with a panel member, determining a most used Internet Protocol address from the plurality of Internet Protocol addresses, accessing geographic information and determining a geographic location corresponding to the most used Internet Protocol address, accessing demographic information and determining a demographic profile associated with the geographic location, and associating at least one of the geographic location or the demographic profile with the media device. | 06-17-2010 |
| 20100153982 | METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR MEDIA SOURCE IDENTIFICATION AND TIME SHIFTED MEDIA CONSUMPTION MEASUREMENTS - Methods and apparatus for media source identification and time shifted media consumption measurements are disclosed. A disclosed method identifies a time shift associated with one of a plurality of media sources local to a media delivery device by generating a library of first signature information local to the media delivery device, wherein the library of first signature information includes records, each of which contains a time stamp, a signature value and a source identifier associated with a respective one of the plurality of media sources, generating second signature information based on media presented via the media delivery device, generating a collection of matching signature information based on the first and second signature information, and performing a time shift analysis on the collection of matching signature information to identify the time shift associated with the one of the plurality of media sources local to the media delivery device. | 06-17-2010 |
| 20100172407 | METHODS AND APPARATUS TO MONITOR AUDIO/VISUAL CONTENT FROM VARIOUS SOURCES - Methods and apparatus to monitor audio/visual content from various sources are disclosed. An example method to monitor a media content presentation comprises determining whether an audio signal is muted based on whether a number of zero crossings exceeds a threshold, and based on whether the audio signal is determined to be muted, using the audio signal to at least one of determine a source of the media content presentation or determine a special operating mode of the source of the media content presentation. Another example method to monitor a media content presentation comprises determining the source of the media content presentation based on whether the audio signal is determined to be compressed. Yet another example method to monitor a media content presentation comprises determining the source of the media content presentation based on whether the video signal is determined to be compressed. | 07-08-2010 |
| 20100174608 | DIGITAL RIGHTS MANAGEMENT AND AUDIENCE MEASUREMENT SYSTEMS AND METHODS - Digital rights management and audience measurement systems and methods are disclosed. An example method includes receiving a request to transfer a first packet of a media content at a router, extracting a code embedded in a payload of the first packet, analyzing a business rule based on the extracted code to determine if the media content is authorized for transfer, receiving a request to transfer a second packet of the media content after receiving the request to transfer the first packet, and when the media content is not authorized for transfer, preventing the second packet from being transferred. | 07-08-2010 |
| 20100211967 | METHODS AND APPARATUS TO MAINTAIN AUDIENCE PRIVACY WHILE DETERMINING VIEWING OF VIDEO-ON-DEMAND PROGRAMS - Methods and apparatus to maintain audience privacy while determining viewing of video-on-demand (VOD) programs are disclosed. An example method disclosed herein comprises obtaining subscriber metering data from a site metering device monitoring presentation of VOD content at a first subscriber site, obtaining server metering data from a VOD server, the server metering data including identification information for a plurality of subscriber sites to identify particular VOD content provided uniquely to each of the subscriber sites, the identification information manipulated to preserve anonymity of the plurality of subscriber sites, manipulating at least a portion of the subscriber metering data to determine a first manipulated identifier to identify the first subscriber site, and using the first manipulated identifier to cross-reference the manipulated identification information included in the server metering data to merge the subscriber metering data and the portion of the server metering data uniquely associated with the first subscriber site. | 08-19-2010 |
| 20100246883 | METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR EMBEDDING AND RECOVERING AN IMAGE FOR USE WITH VIDEO CONTENT - Methods and apparatus for embedding and recovering an image for use with video content are disclosed. An example apparatus includes an image processing module to embed a real component of a spectral representation of the image data into a first set of video frames from the plurality of video frames and embed an imaginary component of the spectral representation of the image data into a second set of video frames from the plurality of video frames. | 09-30-2010 |
| 20100250305 | METHODS AND APPARATUS TO MONITOR SHOPPERS IN A RETAIL ENVIRONMENT - Methods and apparatus to monitor shoppers in a retail environment are disclosed herein. In a disclosed example method involves collecting location information indicative of a measured path of travel of a person through a monitored environment. The example method also involves collecting person detection event information associated with a plurality of zones in the monitored environment. The person detection event information is indicative of detections of the person in each of the zones. In addition, the example method involves determining an adjusted path of travel of the person through the monitored environment based on the location information indicative of the measured path of travel and the person detection event information. | 09-30-2010 |
| 20100280641 | METHODS, APPARATUS AND ARTICLES OF MANUFACTURE TO PROVIDE SECONDARY CONTENT IN ASSOCIATION WITH PRIMARY BROADCAST MEDIA CONTENT - Example methods, apparatus and articles of manufacture to provide media content are disclosed. A disclosed example method includes receiving audio output by a first media presentation device, obtaining at least one of a Nielsen code or an Arbitron® code from the audio, the obtained code being representative of at least one of the first media content or a broadcaster of the first media content, obtaining second media content based on the extracted code, and presenting the second media content on a second media presentation device different from the first media presentation device. | 11-04-2010 |
| 20100299689 | METHODS AND APPARATUS TO ADAPTIVELY SELECT SENSOR(S) TO GATHER AUDIENCE MEASUREMENT DATA BASED ON A VARIABLE SYSTEM FACTOR AND A QUANTITY OF DATA COLLECTIBLE BY THE SENSORS - Methods and apparatus to adaptively gather audience information data are disclosed. The disclosed methods and apparatus monitor system factor(s) and select one or more sensors from a plurality of sensors positioned to gather audience measurement data based on the monitored factor(s). Thus, the disclosed methods and apparatus adapt to the conditions they face by selecting an amount and/or type of audience measurement data they gather. | 11-25-2010 |
| 20110016231 | Methods and Apparatus for Transcoding Metadata - Methods and apparatus for transcoding metadata are disclosed. An example method disclosed herein to meter media content presented by a media consumption device comprises detecting at a metering device first metadata accompanying the media content presented by the media consumption device, receiving from a transcoder at the metering device second metadata associated with the media content presented by the media consumption device, the second metadata comprising third metadata that has been transcoded to form the second metadata, and processing the first metadata and the second metadata to meter the media content presented by the media consumption device. | 01-20-2011 |
| 20110055860 | DATA INSERTION APPARATUS AND METHODS FOR USE WITH COMPRESSED AUDIO/VIDEO DATA - Methods, apparatus, and articles of manufacture for performing data insertion in compressed audio/video data streams are disclosed. An example method disclosed herein to insert audience measurement data in a compressed media data stream comprises rearranging data in frames of the compressed media data stream to form contiguous sequences of skip bytes at respective locations in the frames of the compressed media data stream, the audience measurement data to be inserted in the compressed media data stream at the locations of the contiguous sequences of skip bytes, the contiguous sequences of skip bytes having respective lengths, and inserting different types of audience measurement data at the locations of the contiguous sequences of skip bytes in two different frames of the compressed media data stream based on the respective lengths of the contiguous sequences of skip bytes in the two different frames of the compressed media data stream. | 03-03-2011 |
| 20110088052 | METHODS AND APPARATUS TO DETERMINE AUDIENCE VIEWING OF VIDEO-ON-DEMAND PROGRAMS - Methods and apparatus to determine audience viewing of video-on-demand programs are disclosed. An example method disclosed herein to monitor presentation of video-on-demand content comprises obtaining server metering data determined using a server metering device in communication with a video-on-demand server, the video-on-demand server to provide the video-on-demand content specifically to a first subscriber site among a plurality of subscriber sites, obtaining subscriber metering data corresponding to media content presented at the first subscriber site, the subscriber metering data determined using a site metering device different from the server metering device, and combining the subscriber metering data and the server metering data to monitor the video-on-demand content provided specifically to the first subscriber site. | 04-14-2011 |
| 20110103595 | METHODS AND APPARATUS TO MONITOR MEDIA EXPOSURE IN VEHICLES - Methods and apparatus to monitor media exposure in vehicles are disclosed. An example implementation includes collecting audience measurement data with a media monitoring device fixed in a vehicle and transmitting the audience measurement data from the media monitoring device to a shuttle located within the vehicle, the shuttle being incapable of collecting audience measurement data independent of the media monitoring device. | 05-05-2011 |
| 20110126222 | PORTABLE MULTI-PURPOSE AUDIENCE MEASUREMENT SYSTEMS, APPARATUS AND METHODS - Portable multi-purpose audience measurement systems, apparatus and methods are disclosed. An example method disclosed herein comprises collecting demographic data of a user, including a phone number for a mobile device, via a website associated with an information gathering entity, sending a message to the mobile device, the sent message, when responded to, resulting in downloading of a metering software module to the mobile device, receiving, from the mobile device and at a system associated with the information gathering entity, information indicative of events associated with use of the mobile device, and associating the received information with the demographic data. | 05-26-2011 |
