# US 12,457,373 B2 · Methods, apparatus, and articles of manufacture to identify candidates for media asset qualification > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 12,457,373 B2 - Document ID: US12457373B2 - Status: Granted - Kind: B2 - Application number: 18/522,208 - Filed: 2023-11-28 - Published: 2024-05-23 - Granted: 2025-10-28 - Earliest claimed: 2021-05-28 - Assignees: The Nielsen Company (US), LLC - Applicants: The Nielsen Company (US), LLC - Inventors: Raghuram Ranganathan; David Howell Wright; James Petro; Daniel Nelson; Deborah Cross - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US12457373B2 ## CPC - H04N 21/2407: {Monitoring of transmitted content, e.g. distribution time, number of downloads (arrangements for monitoring programmes for broadcast or for distribution combined with broadcast H04H20/14)} - H04N 21/4345: {Extraction or processing of SI, e.g. extracting service information from an MPEG stream} - H04N 21/42684: {Client identification by a unique number or address, e.g. serial number, MAC address, socket ID (network arrangements, protocols or services for addressing or naming H04L61/00)} - H04N 21/44204: {Monitoring of content usage, e.g. the number of times a movie has been viewed, copied or the amount which has been watched (monitoring of user activities for profile generation for accessing a video database G06F16/739; protecting generic digital content where the protection is independent of the precise nature of the content G06F21/10; arrangements for monitoring the use made of the broadcast services in broadcast systems H04H60/31)} - H04N 21/44222: {Analytics of user selections, e.g. selection of programmes or purchase activity (monitoring of user selections in data processing systems G06F11/34; arrangements for monitoring the user's behaviour or opinions in broadcast systems H04H60/33)} - H04N 21/8358: involving watermark {(protecting executable software by watermarking G06F21/16; image watermarking in general G06T1/0021; watermarks inserted in still images for transmission purposes H04N1/32144; inserting watermarks during video coding H04N19/467)} - H04N: PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION ## Abstract Methods, apparatus, systems, and articles of manufacture are disclosed to identify candidates for media asset qualification. Example apparatus disclosed herein include a media creditor to determine whether to credit a first media asset to linear media or non-linear media, the non-linear media including subscription video on demand (SVOD). Disclosed example apparatus also include a media asset candidate controller to: classify the first media asset as a non-candidate for media asset qualification in response to the first media asset being credited to the linear media or the non-linear media. In some examples, the media asset candidate controller is to determine whether to classify the first media asset as a candidate for media asset qualification based on whether the first media asset remains uncredited by the media creditor and the first media asset overlaps a streaming period. ## Claims ### Claim 1 An audience measurement computing system comprising: at least one processor; a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, having stored thereon program instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause performance of a set of operations comprising: obtaining a media asset and timestamps indicative of when the media asset was presented on a media device from a first meter monitoring the media device; comparing the media asset to a plurality of reference media assets stored in a media reference database; determining, based on a comparison of the media asset to the plurality of reference media assets, that the media asset is uncredited indicating that the media asset does not match any reference media assets of the plurality of reference media assets; obtaining a streaming period from a second meter, wherein the second meter identifies Internet activity corresponding to the media device, and wherein the identified Internet activity includes the streaming period; determining that the timestamps overlaps with the streaming period; and classifying the media asset as a candidate media asset based on the media asset being uncredited and the timestamps overlapping the streaming period. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The audience measurement computing system of claim 1, wherein the set of operations further comprises: qualifying, after classifying the media asset as a candidate media asset, the media asset to be stored in a media reference database. ### Claim 3 (depends on 1) The audience measurement computing system of claim 1, wherein the set of operations further comprise: determining a streaming source associated with the media asset; and wherein classifying the media asset as a candidate media asset is further based on the streaming source. ### Claim 4 (depends on 1) The audience measurement computing system of claim 1, further comprising: the media reference database, wherein the media reference database is configured to store the plurality of reference media assets. ### Claim 5 (depends on 1) The audience measurement computing system of claim 1, wherein the media device corresponds to at least one of an Internet-enabled television, a laptop computer, a smartphone, a video game console, a tablet computer, or a digital media player. ### Claim 6 (depends on 1) The audience measurement computing system of claim 1, wherein the set of operations further comprise: identifying the media asset as non-linear rather than linear. ### Claim 7 (depends on 1) The audience measurement computing system of claim 1, wherein the streaming period is based on streaming information reported by the second meter monitoring the media device from which the media asset was obtained. ### Claim 8 (depends on 7) The audience measurement computing system of claim 7, wherein the streaming information includes at least one of: uniform resource locator accessed by the media device, a domain name accessed by the media device, a media access control address corresponding to the media device, or bandwidth information consumed by the media device. ### Claim 9 (depends on 1) The audience measurement computing system of claim 1, wherein the timestamps are a first set of timestamps; and wherein obtaining the streaming period comprises: determining that at least one uniform resource locator associated with a streaming source was accessed by the media device; and identifying a second set of timestamps associated with a period in which the streaming source was accessed by the media device. ### Claim 10 (depends on 9) The audience measurement computing system of claim 9, wherein the second set of timestamps correspond to a start time and an end time of the period in which the streaming source was accessed by the media device, and wherein the streaming period corresponds to the second set of timestamps. ### Claim 11 A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, having stored thereon program instructions that, upon execution by a processor, cause performance of a set of operations comprising: obtaining a media asset and timestamps indicative of when the media asset was presented on a media device from a first meter monitoring the media device; comparing the media asset to a plurality of reference media assets stored in a media reference database; determining, based on a comparison of the media asset to the plurality of reference media assets, that the media asset is uncredited indicating that the media asset does not match any reference media assets of the plurality of reference media assets; obtaining a streaming period from a second meter, wherein the second meter identifies Internet activity corresponding to the media device, and wherein the identified Internet activity includes the streaming period; determining that the timestamps overlaps with the streaming period; and classifying the media asset as a candidate media asset based on the media asset being uncredited and the media asset timestamps overlapping the streaming period. ### Claim 12 (depends on 11) The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein the set of operations further comprise: qualifying, after a determination to classify the media asset as a candidate media asset, the media asset to be stored in a media reference database. ### Claim 13 (depends on 11) The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein the set of operations further comprise: determining a streaming source associated with the media asset; and wherein classifying the media asset as a candidate media asset is further based on the streaming source. ### Claim 14 (depends on 11) The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein the streaming period is based on streaming information reported by the second meter monitoring a media device from which the media asset was obtained, and wherein the streaming information includes at least one of: uniform resource locator accessed by the media device, a domain name accessed by the media device, a media access control address corresponding to the media device, or bandwidth information consumed by the media device. ### Claim 15 (depends on 11) The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein the timestamps are a first set of timestamps; wherein obtaining the streaming period comprises: determining that at least one uniform resource locator associated with a streaming source was accessed by the media device; and identifying a second set of timestamps associated with a period in which the streaming source was accessed by the media device. ### Claim 16 A method comprising: obtaining a media asset and timestamps indicative of when the media asset was presented on a media device from a first meter monitoring the media device; comparing, using a processor of a computing system, the media asset to a plurality of reference media assets stored in a media reference database; determining, based on a comparison of the media asset to the plurality of reference media assets, that the media asset is uncredited indicating that the media asset does not match any reference media assets of the plurality of reference media assets; obtaining a streaming period from a second meter, wherein the second meter identifies Internet activity corresponding to the media device, and wherein the identified Internet activity includes the streaming period; determining, using the processor of the computing system, that the timestamps overlaps with the streaming period; and classifying, using the processor of the computing system, the media asset as a candidate media asset based on the media asset being uncredited and the timestamps overlapping the streaming period. ### Claim 17 (depends on 16) The method of claim 16, wherein the streaming period is based on streaming information reported by the second meter monitoring a media device from which the media asset was obtained, and wherein the streaming information includes at least one of: uniform resource locator accessed by the media device, a domain name accessed by the media device, a media access control address corresponding to the media device, or bandwidth information consumed by the media device. ### Claim 18 (depends on 16) The method of claim 16, further comprising: qualifying, after a determination to classify the media asset as a candidate media asset, the media asset to be stored in a media reference database. ### Claim 19 (depends on 16) The method of claim 16, further comprising: identifying the media asset as non-linear rather than linear. ### Claim 20 (depends on 16) The method of claim 16, further comprising: determining a streaming source associated with the media asset; and wherein classifying the media asset as a candidate media asset is further based on the streaming source.