Methods and apparatus to detect spillover in an audience monitoring system
AssigneeThe Nielsen Company (US), LLC
InventorMorris Lee
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Methods and apparatus to detect spillover in an audience monitoring system are disclosed. An example method includes sampling a first audio signal from a first source received by a first microphone. A second audio signal received by a second microphone from the first source is sampled. The second microphone is separated from the first microphone by a first distance. A time delay between receipt of the first and second sampled audio signals is calculated. Whether the time delay is within a threshold time difference is determined. When the time delay is within the threshold time difference, the media associated with the first source is retained. When the time delay exceeds the threshold time difference, the media associated with the first source is ignored.
Claims20
A method to distinguish local media from spillover media comprising:
- sampling a first audio signal from a first source received by a first microphone;
- sampling a second audio signal received by a second microphone from the first source, wherein the second microphone is separated from the first microphone by a first distance;
- calculating, with a processor, a time delay between receipt of the first and second sampled audio signals;
- determining, with the processor, whether the time delay is within a threshold time difference;
- when the time delay is within the threshold time difference, retaining the media associated with the first source;
- and
- when the time delay exceeds the threshold time difference, ignoring the media associated with the first source.
A tangible machine-readable storage medium comprising instructions which, when executed, cause a processor to at least:
- sample a first audio signal from a first source received by a first microphone;
- sample a second audio signal received by a second microphone from the first source, wherein the second microphone is separated from the first microphone by a first distance;
- calculate, with a processor, a time delay between receipt of the first and second sampled audio signals;
- determine, with the processor, whether the time delay is within a threshold time difference;
- when the time delay is within the threshold time difference, retain the media associated with the first source;
- and
- when the time delay exceeds the threshold time difference, ignore the media associated with the first source.
An apparatus to distinguish local media from spillover media comprising:
- an audio sampler to sample a first audio signal from a first source received by a first microphone and sample a second audio signal received by a second microphone from the first source, wherein the second microphone is separated from the first microphone by a first distance;
- a direction detector to determine a time difference between receipt of the first and second sampled audio signals;
- and
- a filter to determine whether the time difference is within a threshold time difference, the filter to retain the media associated with the first source when the time difference is within the threshold time difference, the filter to ignore the media associated with the first source when the time difference exceeds the threshold time difference, at least one of the audio sampler, the direction detector, or the filter being implemented by hardware.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.