US 11,910,069 B2 · Flexible commercial monitoring

Abstract

Methods, apparatus, systems and articles of manufacture (e.g., physical storage media) to implement flexible commercial monitoring for television audience measurement are disclosed. Example television audience measurement systems disclosed herein include a flexible commercial detector to detect whether a first watermark decoded from a television program broadcast signal is a bridge watermark that indicates a portion of the television broadcast signal including the bridge watermark is associated with a flexible commercial insertion event, the flexible commercial insertion event corresponding to insertion of a flexible commercial in the portion of the television broadcast signal. Disclosed example television audience measurement systems also include a commercial metric calculator to credit audience exposure associated with the portion of the television broadcast signal to a flexible commercial crediting metric in response to a determination that the first watermark is the bridge watermark.

Claims20

Dependent claims

An apparatus comprising:

at least one memory;
computer readable instructions;
and
processor circuitry to execute the computer readable instructions to at least:
detect that a portion of a media broadcast signal corresponds to a flexible commercial insertion opportunity in which one or more flexible commercials are to be inserted in the portion of the media broadcast signal, the one or more flexible commercials to replace one or more existing commercials included in the portion of the media broadcast signal;
insert a first flexible commercial of the one or more flexible commercials in the portion of the media broadcast signal, the first flexible commercial encoded with one or more first watermarks that identify the first flexible commercial;
and
encode the portion of the media broadcast signal including the first flexible commercial with one or more second watermarks that identify the portion of the media broadcast signal as corresponding to the flexible commercial insertion opportunity, the one or more second watermarks to not identify the first flexible commercial.

5 more elements

At least one non-transitory computer readable medium comprising computer readable instructions that, when executed, cause at least one processor to at least:

detect that a portion of a media broadcast signal corresponds to a flexible commercial insertion opportunity in which one or more flexible commercials are to be inserted in the portion of the media broadcast signal, the one or more flexible commercials to replace one or more existing commercials included in the portion of the media broadcast signal;
insert a first flexible commercial of the one or more flexible commercials in the portion of the media broadcast signal, the first flexible commercial encoded with one or more first watermarks that identify the first flexible commercial;
and
encode the portion of the media broadcast signal including the first flexible commercial with one or more second watermarks that identify the portion of the media broadcast signal as corresponding to the flexible commercial insertion opportunity, the one or more second watermarks to not identify the first flexible commercial.

1 more element

A method comprising:

detecting, by executing an instruction with at least one processor, that a portion of a media broadcast signal corresponds to a flexible commercial insertion opportunity in which one or more flexible commercials are to be inserted in the portion of the media broadcast signal, the one or more flexible commercials to replace one or more existing commercials included in the portion of the media broadcast signal;
inserting a first flexible commercial of the one or more flexible commercials in the portion of the media broadcast signal, the first flexible commercial encoded with one or more first watermarks that identify the first flexible commercial;
and
encoding, by executing an instruction with the at least one processor, the portion of the media broadcast signal including the first flexible commercial with one or more second watermarks that identify the portion of the media broadcast signal as corresponding to the flexible commercial insertion opportunity, the one or more second watermarks to not identify the first flexible commercial.

1 more element

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Flexible commercial monitoring

Life of this patent

Flexible commercial monitoring

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims20