Patent application number | Description | Published |
20090007169 | METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR COLLECTING MEDIA CONSUMPTION DATA BASED ON USAGE INFORMATION - Methods and apparatus for collecting media consumption data based on usage information of a media delivery device are disclosed. In an example method, media information is received by a portable metering device associated with a monitored individual such as a portable telephone, a personal digital assistant, and/or a handheld computer. Usage information indicative of a media delivery event associated with a media delivery device such as a television is monitored by the portable metering device. To form the media consumption data, the media information is associated with one of a first channel and a second channel based on the usage information. | 01-01-2009 |
20100306791 | DIGITAL VIDEO SIGNATURE APPARATUS AND METHODS FOR USE WITH VIDEO PROGRAM IDENTIFICATION SYSTEMS - Digital video signature apparatus and methods for use with video program identification systems are disclosed. The disclosed apparatus and methods identify a video program using a sequence of signatures. Each of the signatures includes a set of centroids corresponding to one of a plurality of frames of the video program. The apparatus and methods compare the sequence of signatures to a set of reference sequences of signatures and identify the video program based on the comparison of the sequence of signatures to the set of reference sequences of signatures. | 12-02-2010 |
20110302597 | DIGITAL VIDEO SIGNATURE APPARATUS AND METHODS FOR USE WITH VIDEO PROGRAM IDENTIFICATION SYSTEMS - Digital video signature apparatus and methods for use with video program identification systems are disclosed. The example apparatus and methods generate a signature associated with a video program. An example system includes a frame scanner to scan video frames associated with the video program. The frame scanner is to select a video frame based on a number of intra-coded macro blocks within the video frame. The example system also includes an intra-coded macro block extractor to extract intra-coded macro blocks from the video frame and a scaled image extractor to extract a scaled image from the intra-coded macro blocks. A signature generator is also included in the example system to calculate a plurality of centroids associated with video frame based on the scaled image and to form the signature based on the plurality of centroids. | 12-08-2011 |
20120291058 | SIGNATURE-BASED PROGRAM IDENTIFICATION APPARATUS AND METHODS FOR USE WITH DIGITAL BROADCAST SYSTEMS - Signature-based program identification apparatus and methods for use with digital audio and/or video systems are disclosed. The disclosed systems and methods develop signatures of digital audio and/or video content from a digital data stream at two or more sites and compare the signatures to one another to identify the content. | 11-15-2012 |
20140115619 | DIGITAL VIDEO SIGNATURE APPARATUS AND METHODS FOR USE WITH VIDEO PROGRAM IDENTIFICATION SYSTEMS - Digital video signature apparatus and methods for use with video program identification systems are disclosed. The example apparatus and methods generate a signature associated with a video program. An example system includes a frame scanner to scan video frames associated with the video program. The frame scanner is to select a video frame based on a number of intra-coded macro blocks within the video frame. The example system also includes an intra-coded macro block extractor to extract intra-coded macro blocks from the video frame and a scaled image extractor to extract a scaled image from the intra-coded macro blocks. A signature generator is also included in the example system to calculate a plurality of centroids associated with video frame based on the scaled image and to form the signature based on the plurality of centroids. | 04-24-2014 |
Patent application number | Description | Published |
20100271561 | AUDIO BASED METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR DETECTING A CHANNEL CHANGE EVENT - Methods and apparatus for detecting a channel change event are disclosed. capturing a television audio signal having first, second, and third portions, the first portion occurring earlier in time than the second portion and the second portion occurring earlier in time than the third portion, identifying at least one of a first muted audio condition or a first transient audio condition in the second portion of the television audio signal, and identifying a channel change event in response to: 1) identifying the at least one of the first muted audio condition or the first transient audio condition, 2) failing to identify a second muted audio condition or a second transient audio condition in the first and third portions of the television audio signal, and 3) determining that a time domain length of the second portion of the television audio signal is greater than a first threshold and less than a second threshold. | 10-28-2010 |
20120254908 | METHODS AND APPARATUS TO COLLECT AUDIENCE INFORMATION ASSOCIATED WITH A MEDIA PRESENTATION - Methods and apparatus to collect audience information associated with a media presentation are described herein. In an example method includes counting a first number of individuals proximate to a media presentation device, counting a second number of signals received from one or more portable devices, each of which is associated with a respective one of one or more monitored individuals, comparing the first number of individuals to the second number of signals, and determining a third number of unidentified ones of the individuals proximate to the media presentation device based on the comparison of the first number of individuals to the second number of signals. | 10-04-2012 |
20140040929 | METHODS AND APPARATUS TO COLLECT AUDIENCE INFORMATION ASSOCIATED WITH A MEDIA PRESENTATION - Methods and apparatus to collect audience information associated with a media presentation are described herein. An example method includes detecting, at a base meter located in proximity to a media presentation device, registration information from a portable metering device within proximity of the base meter, the registration information identifying a user associated with the portable metering device. A content identifier associated with media presented by the media presentation device is determined. A polling query is sent to the portable metering device for presentation to the user. A response to the polling query, the registration information, and the content identifier are communicated to a data collection facility. | 02-06-2014 |
Patent application number | Description | Published |
20130051667 | IMAGE RECOGNITION TO SUPPORT SHELF AUDITING FOR CONSUMER RESEARCH - Image recognition methods, apparatus and articles or manufacture to support shelf auditing for consumer research are disclosed herein. An example method disclosed herein comprises comparing an input image depicting a shelf to be audited with a set of reference images depicting reference shelves displaying respective sets of reference items, identifying a first reference image from the set of reference images that has been determined to match the input image, and determining an initial audit result for the shelf depicted in the input image based on a first set of reference items associated with the first reference image. | 02-28-2013 |
20130258084 | HYBRID ACTIVE AND PASSIVE PEOPLE METERING FOR AUDIENCE MEASUREMENT - Hybrid active and passive people metering for audience measurement is disclosed. An example method disclosed herein to perform people metering for audience measurement comprises obtaining an image sequence depicting a scene in which an audience is expected to be present, comparing an image sequence signature representative of the image sequence with a set of reference signatures to determine a comparison result, and controlling audience prompting performed by a people meter based on the comparison result. | 10-03-2013 |
20130259323 | SCENE-BASED PEOPLE METERING FOR AUDIENCE MEASUREMENT - Scene-based people metering for audience measurement is disclosed. An example method disclosed herein to perform people metering for audience measurement comprises segmenting image frames depicting a location in which an audience is expected to be present to form a sequence of scenes, for a first scene in the sequence of scenes, identifying a key frame representing a first sequence of image frames corresponding to the first scene, and processing the key frame to identify an audience depicted in the first scene. | 10-03-2013 |
20140254947 | SCENE-BASED PEOPLE METERING FOR AUDIENCE MEASUREMENT - Scene-based people metering for audience measurement is disclosed. Example methods disclosed herein include grouping successive image frames depicting a location of a media presentation to form a sequence of scenes, respective scenes including respective groups of the image frames. Such example methods also include grouping matching scenes into respective scene clusters having respective sizes, the scene clusters being represented by respective key frames. Such example methods further include assigning respective ranks to the key frames of the respective scene clusters, the respective ranks being determined based on the respective sizes of the scene clusters. Such example methods additionally include processing the key frames in accordance with the respective ranks to monitor an audience of the media presentation. | 09-11-2014 |
Patent application number | Description | Published |
20090049465 | METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR AUDIENCE MEASUREMENT USING GLOBAL SIGNATURE REPRESENTATION AND MATCHING - Methods and apparatus for audience measurement using global signature representation and matching are disclosed. An example method to determine whether a monitored media content presentation corresponds to a reference content source disclosed herein comprises creating a track corresponding to the reference content source and representative of a history of signature matching results when a first site signature in a plurality of site signatures corresponding to the monitored media content presentation and a first reference signature in a plurality of reference signatures corresponding to the reference content source are determined to match at a particular time offset between the first site signature and the first reference signature according to a histogram representing a plurality of distances between the first site signature and the first reference signature corresponding to a respective plurality of time offsets between the first site signature and the first reference signature. | 02-19-2009 |
20090123025 | METHODS AND APPARATUS TO MEASURE BRAND EXPOSURE IN MEDIA STREAMS - Methods and apparatus to measure brand exposure in media streams are disclosed. An example method to determine brand exposures included in media content disclosed herein comprises determining whether a scene detected from a media stream corresponding to the media content matches a reference scene, identifying an expected region of interest in the detected scene based on information describing the reference scene when the detected scene is determined to match the reference scene and the reference scene is not specified to be a scene of no interest, and determining whether a reference brand identifier associated with the reference scene is included in the expected region of interest identified in the detected scene. | 05-14-2009 |
20090123069 | METHODS AND APPARATUS TO SPECIFY REGIONS OF INTEREST IN VIDEO FRAMES - Methods and apparatus to specify regions of interest in video frames are disclosed. An example disclosed method comprises determining an initial template region to represent a region of interest whose location is based on a first point selected in a graphical presentation, determining a first modification to perform on the initial template region in response to a second point selected in the graphical presentation, detecting the second selected point in the graphical presentation, and reshaping the initial template region toward the second selected point, the reshaping corresponding to the first modification, the reshaping being performed in response to detecting the second selected point without also requiring the user to select any point substantially on the boundary defining the initial template region to initiate the reshaping. | 05-14-2009 |
20100246955 | METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR IDENTIFYING PRIMARY MEDIA CONTENT IN A POST-PRODUCTION MEDIA CONTENT PRESENTATION - Methods and apparatus for identifying primary media content in a post-production media content presentation are disclosed. An example computer-implemented method to detect primary media content included in a secondary media content presentation disclosed herein comprises determining a first image corresponding to the secondary media content presentation, the first image comprising a plurality of image subregions, each image subregion representative of an inter-frame variation associated with a corresponding subregion of the secondary media content presentation, selecting a region of the first image comprising a plurality of connected image subregions of the first image together exhibiting a first type of inter-frame variation, and when a shape of the selected region of the first image corresponds to a predefined shape, processing a region of the first captured image corresponding to the selected region of the first synthetic image to identify the primary media content. | 09-30-2010 |
20110243459 | METHODS AND APPARATUS TO DETECT DIFFERENCES BETWEEN IMAGES - Methods and apparatus to detect differences between images are disclosed. An example method to identify image differences disclosed herein comprises electronically determining whether a difference between a first block of pixels of a sample image and a second block of pixels of a reference image is resolvable using a transformation operation, when the difference between the first and second blocks is determined to be unresolvable, but not when the difference between the first and second blocks is determined to be resolvable, including the first block in an unresolved difference region of the sample image, and electronically generating a difference signature representative of the unresolved difference region, the difference signature to identify the unresolved difference region of the sample image. | 10-06-2011 |
20120020559 | METHODS AND APPARATUS TO SPECIFY REGIONS OF INTEREST IN VIDEO FRAMES - Methods and apparatus to specify regions of interest in video frames are disclosed. An example disclosed method comprises determining an initial template region to represent a region of interest whose location is based on a first point selected in a graphical presentation, determining a first modification to perform on the initial template region in response to a second point selected in the graphical presentation, detecting the second selected point in the graphical presentation, and reshaping the initial template region toward the second selected point, the reshaping corresponding to the first modification, the reshaping being performed in response to detecting the second selected point without also requiring the user to select any point substantially on the boundary defining the initial template region to initiate the reshaping. | 01-26-2012 |
20120266187 | METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR AUDIENCE MEASUREMENT USING GLOBAL SIGNATURE REPRESENTATION AND MATCHING - Disclosed example methods to determine a time offset between a first media content signature comprising a first sequence of first data pairs and a second media content signature comprising a second sequence of second data pairs include determining a histogram comprising a plurality of bins representative of a plurality of determined time differences. The plurality of determined time differences include each respective time difference determined between each first data pair and second data pair combination. Each respective bin of the histogram represents a respective window of time differences and has a respective value representative of a number of the plurality of determined time differences lying within the respective window of time differences represented by the respective bin. Such disclosed example methods also include selecting at least one bin of the histogram to correspond to the time offset between the first signature and the second signature. | 10-18-2012 |
20120301031 | METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR IDENTIFYING PRIMARY MEDIA CONTENT IN A POST-PRODUCTION MEDIA CONTENT PRESENTATION - Methods and apparatus for identifying primary media content in a post-production media content presentation are disclosed. An example computer-implemented method to detect primary media content included in a secondary media content presentation disclosed herein comprises determining a first image corresponding to the secondary media content presentation, the first image comprising a plurality of image subregions, each image subregion representative of an inter-frame variation associated with a corresponding subregion of the secondary media content presentation, selecting a region of the first image comprising a plurality of connected image subregions of the first image together exhibiting a first type of inter-frame variation, and when a shape of the selected region of the first image corresponds to a predefined shape, processing a region of the first captured image corresponding to the selected region of the first synthetic image to identify the primary media content. | 11-29-2012 |
20130011071 | METHODS AND APPARATUS TO SPECIFY REGIONS OF INTEREST IN VIDEO FRAMES - Methods and apparatus to specify regions of interest in video frames are disclosed. Example disclosed methods to mark a region in a graphical presentation include selecting a first point located at a substantially central position within the region, selecting a plurality of second points to define a boundary of the region, and comparing a plurality of stored templates with the selected first and second points to identify a first one of the stored templates to represent the region. | 01-10-2013 |
20130114907 | METHODS AND APPARATUS TO IDENTIFY IMAGES IN PRINT ADVERTISEMENTS - Methods and apparatus to methods and apparatus to identify images in print advertisements are disclosed. An example method comprises computing a first image feature vector for a first presented image, comparing the first image feature vector to a second image feature vector, and when the first image feature vector matches the second image feature vector, storing printed-media information associated with the first presented image in a database record associated with the second image feature vector. | 05-09-2013 |
20130227595 | METHODS AND APPARATUS TO IDENTIFY AUDIENCE MEMBERS - Methods and apparatus are disclosed to identify audience members. An example method includes detecting selection an identification key on a remote control. The identification key is input by a user using an input on the remote control. The remote control is to control a consumer electronic device. The example method includes generating an audio signal to identify the user based on the identification key. The audio signal is electronically detectable. The example method includes outputting the audio signal via a speaker. | 08-29-2013 |
20130230256 | METHODS AND APPARATUS TO DETECT DIFFERENCES BETWEEN IMAGES - Methods and apparatus to detect differences between images are disclosed. Example methods disclosed herein to recognize different image versions include generating a first signature representative of a sample image, and obtaining a reference image associated with a second signature determined to substantially match the first image signature. Such example methods also include generating a third signature representative of a first region of the sample image corresponding spatially to a first region of the reference image associated with a first version of the reference image, the third signature being different from the first signature. Such example methods further include comparing the generated third signature and a fourth signature representative of the first region of the reference image to determine whether the sample image corresponds to the first version of the reference image. | 09-05-2013 |
20140208339 | METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR AUDIENCE MEASUREMENT USING GLOBAL SIGNATURE REPRESENTATION AND MATCHING - Disclosed example methods to determine a time offset between a first media signature having a first sequence of first data pairs and a second media signature having a second sequence of second data pairs include comparing ones of the first data pairs in the first sequence with ones of the second data pairs in the second sequence to determine original time differences between respective combinations of the ones of the first data pairs and the ones of the second data pairs. Such example methods also include scaling and truncating the original time differences to determine scaled time differences between respective combinations of the ones of the first data pairs and the ones of the second data pairs. Such example methods further include determining a histogram comprising bins representative of the scaled time differences, and selecting a histogram bin to correspond to the time offset between the first and second signatures. | 07-24-2014 |
20150086070 | IMAGE RECOGNITION TO SUPPORT SHELF AUDITING FOR CONSUMER RESEARCH - Image recognition methods, apparatus and articles or manufacture to support shelf auditing for consumer research are disclosed herein. Example methods disclosed herein include comparing a first image signature associated with an input image with a plurality of reference signatures associated with a plurality of reference images to identify a first reference image matching the input image. Such disclosed example methods also include identifying a first group of items depicted in the input image as corresponding to a first group of reference items registered with the first reference image. Such disclosed example methods further include determining a first region of the input image that differs from a corresponding first region of the first reference image, and processing the first region of the input image based on a template to identify a second item depicted in the input image. | 03-26-2015 |
Patent application number | Description | Published |
20130287962 | ELECTROSPRAY ATOMIZATION ELECTRODE, NOZZLE, APPARATUS, METHODS AND APPLICATIONS - A multiplexed emitter source distributor electrode, a related multiplexed electrospray nozzle, a related multiplexed electrospray apparatus and a related coating method that uses the multiplexed electrospray apparatus are all predicated upon at least one of: (1) a linear emitter source density greater than about 15 emitter sources per centimeter; and (2) an area emitter source density greater than about 225 emitter sources per square centimeter. The distributor electrode comprises other than a silicon material (i.e., a metal, metal alloy, ceramic or polymer material). The distributor electrode may be fabricated using a computerized numerical control method that provides the coating method with enhanced uniformity. The nozzle and the apparatus may also use a stepped slotted extractor electrode. | 10-31-2013 |
20140246507 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR MONIDISPERSE LIQUID PARTICLE GENERATION - A particle generation apparatus and a particle generation method each employ: (1) a nozzle from which exits a liquid micro-jet stream; and (2) a ground electrode separated from the nozzle, where both the nozzle and the ground plane are DC voltage biased when operating the nozzle. Each of the particle generating apparatus and the particle generating method also employ a pair of AC electrodes interposed between the nozzle and the ground electrode and perpendicular to the liquid micro-jet stream. When a liquid supply is supplied to the nozzle, a DC voltage bias is supplied to the nozzle and the ground electrode, and an AC voltage bias and AC frequency bias is applied to the pair of AC electrodes a liquid particle spray is generated by the apparatus and the method. With additional parametric adjustment, the liquid particle spray may be monodisperse and bifurcated. | 09-04-2014 |