SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR IDENTIFYING A SOURCE OF MEDIA CONTENT BASED ON A LOG OF FINGERPRINTS

摘要

Systems and methods are described for identifying a content source of media content being transmitted to a viewer in situations when a specific media asset is being transmitted to the viewer from two different content sources nearly simultaneously. For example, if a certain movie is being broadcast at nearly the same time by two different channels, the system is able to identify the channel that the viewer is watching. The system performs the identification by obtaining fingerprints for two different channels, matching the fingerprints based on time and then finding a divergent pair of fingerprints by iterating in reverse chronological order through the pairs and comparing the fingerprints. The system then compares the fingerprints to fingerprints in a log that stores fingerprints and corresponding generation times for content that the viewer is consuming. The matching fingerprint corresponds to the correct content source.

主权项

1. A method for determining a source of content that a user is presently consuming, the method comprising:
periodically storing, in a log of fingerprints, a fingerprint generated based on media content that the user is consuming at a given time; transmitting to a server a request to identify a content source corresponding to a media asset, wherein the media asset is consumed by the user at a first time, and wherein the request comprises a fingerprint of the media asset generated at the first time; receiving, from the server, a first content source identifier, and a second content source identifier, wherein the first content source identifier and the second content source identifier correspond to a first content source and a second content source, respectively, that are both transmitting the media asset at the first time; transmitting, to the server, a request for a first plurality of fingerprints generated based on content transmitted by the first content source and a second plurality of fingerprints generated based on content transmitted by the second content source; in response to receiving the first plurality of fingerprints and the second plurality of fingerprints, matching each fingerprint from the first plurality of fingerprints with a fingerprint from the second plurality of fingerprints to create a plurality of matched pairs of fingerprints, wherein the matching is performed based on a time the respective fingerprints were generated; iterating through each matched pair of fingerprints in reverse chronological order until a first fingerprint from the first plurality of fingerprints diverges from a second fingerprint from the second plurality of fingerprints, wherein the iterating comprises comparing each fingerprint from the first plurality of fingerprints with a matched fingerprint from the second plurality of fingerprints; comparing the first fingerprint from the first plurality of fingerprints to a contemporaneous fingerprint stored in the log of fingerprints and comparing the second fingerprint from the second plurality of fingerprints to the contemporaneous fingerprint stored in the log of fingerprints to determine whether the first fingerprint from the first plurality of fingerprints or the second fingerprint from the second plurality of fingerprints matches the contemporaneous fingerprint from the log of fingerprints; and determining whether the first content source or the second content source is a source of content that the user is presently consuming based on whether the first fingerprint from the first plurality of fingerprints or the second fingerprint from the second plurality of fingerprints matches the contemporaneous fingerprint from the log of fingerprints.