| Patent application number | Description | Published |
| 20090259745 | METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR NONINTRUSIVE MONITORING OF WEB BROWSER USAGE - Methods and apparatus for nonintrusive monitoring of web browser usage are disclosed. An example method for monitoring web browsing disclosed herein comprises obtaining a video signal from a video output of a device implementing a web browser, processing a video image obtained from the video signal to identify a region of the video image displaying at least a portion of the web browser, determining textual information displayed by the web browser in the identified region of the video image, and using the textual information to record usage of the web browser. | 10-15-2009 |
| 20100078902 | Protective Guards for Mounting an Identification Tag on a Shopping Carrier - A housing for mounting an identification tag to a shopping carrier is disclosed. An example housing includes a base for mounting the housing to the shopping carrier and a guard cover for protecting the identification tag. The guard cover includes a plurality of sidewalls extending from the base plate and a top wall extending between the sidewalls, the sidewalls and the top wall bounding an interior having an opening. The identification tag is mounted at least partially inside the interior of the guard cover. | 04-01-2010 |
| 20100095320 | METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR IDENTIFYING AUDIO/VIDEO CONTENT USING TEMPORAL SIGNAL CHARACTERISTICS - Methods and apparatus for identifying audio/video content using temporal characteristics of a signal are disclosed. The disclosed apparatus and methods receive a signature associated with audio/video content presented at a monitored site, wherein the signature is based on a plurality of time intervals associated with audio features of the audio/video content presented at the monitored site and identify the audio/video content presented at the monitored site based on the received signature. | 04-15-2010 |
| 20100114527 | PROBABILISTIC METHODS AND APPARATUS TO DETERMINE THE STATE OF A MEDIA DEVICE - Probabilistic methods and apparatus to determine the state of a media device are described. An example method to determine the state of a media device includes processing a first output signal from a first sensor measuring a first property of the media device to generate a first parameter value and processing a second output signal from a second sensor measuring a second property of the media device to generate a second parameter value. Next, the example method includes combining first conditional probabilities of the first parameter value and the second parameter value to determine a first state probability for the first state of the media device and combining second conditional probabilities of the first parameter value and the second parameter value to determine a second state probability for the second state of the media device. Then, determining the state of the media device by selecting the greater of the first state probability or the second state probability. | 05-06-2010 |
| 20100115542 | METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR IDENTIFYING MEDIA CONTENT USING TEMPORAL SIGNAL CHARACTERISTICS - Methods and apparatus to identify media content using temporal signal characteristics are disclosed. An example method to identify media content includes receiving a reference signal corresponding to known media content and generating a reference signature based on the reference signal. The method further includes generating a plurality of sums based on peaks in the media signal and identifying one or more signal peaks based on the generated sums. The method then generates a second signature based on a plurality of normalized curve features, wherein each normalized curve feature corresponds to a signal peak at the temporal location of the signal peak, and determining whether the media signal corresponds to the reference signal based a comparison of the reference signature and the second signature. | 05-06-2010 |
| 20100199296 | METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR USING LOCATION INFORMATION TO MANAGE SPILLOVER IN AN AUDIENCE MONITORING SYSTEM - Methods, apparatus, and articles of manufacture for using location information to manage spillover in an audience monitoring system are disclosed. In an example method, a first location signal and a second location signal are received substantially simultaneously at a portable metering device. The first location signal is emitted via a first device located at a first location and includes a first signal characteristic associated with the first location. The second location signal is emitted via a second device located at a second location and includes a second signal characteristic associated with the second location. The first location signal or the second location signal is selected based on the first and second signal characteristics. Media monitoring information is generated based on the selected signal. | 08-05-2010 |
| 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 |
| 20100272350 | METHODS AND APPARATUS TO PERFORM IMAGE CLASSIFICATION BASED ON PSEUDORANDOM FEATURES - Example methods and apparatus to perform image classification based on pseudorandom features are disclosed. A disclosed example method includes generating first and second pseudorandom numbers, extracting a first feature of an image based on the first and second pseudorandom numbers, and determining a classification for the image based on the first extracted feature. | 10-28-2010 |
| 20110088053 | METHODS AND APPARATUS TO ADJUST SIGNATURE MATCHING RESULTS FOR AUDIENCE MEASUREMENT - Methods and apparatus to adjust signature matching results for audience measurement are disclosed. An example method to adjust a signature matching result associated with monitoring a media content presentation disclosed herein comprises obtaining a monitored signature representative of the monitored media content presentation from a monitoring device, obtaining an environmental characteristic associated with the monitored signature from the monitoring device, and adjusting the signature matching result using an adjustment value when the monitored signature is determined to match a reference signature representative of reference media content, the adjustment value selected from a plurality of adjustment values based on the matched reference signature and the environmental characteristic. | 04-14-2011 |