Use of In-Band Metadata as Basis to Access Reference Fingerprints to Facilitate Content-Related Action

A media client comprising:

• a content communication interface;
• a network communication interface;
• a processing unit;
• non-transitory data storage;
• and
• program instructions stored in the non-transitory data storage and executable by the processing unit to carry out operations including:
• receiving, through the content communication interface, a media stream,
• receiving, through the content communication interface, as in-band metadata with the media stream, an identifier of the media stream,
• processing the media stream for presentation,
• while processing the media stream for presentation, transmitting to a server, in out-of-band signaling through the network communication interface, the identifier of the media stream received as in-band metadata with the media stream, to enable the server to obtain reference fingerprints representing the media stream without a need for the server to search for reference fingerprints that match query fingerprints representing the media stream being processed for presentation, and
• receiving from the server, through the network communication interface, a directive for the media client to perform a content-related action at a particular time in the media stream, wherein the particular time is established based on the obtained reference fingerprints.

A method comprising:

• while a media client is processing a media stream for presentation, receiving by a server from the media client an out-of-band signal providing the server with an identifier of the media stream that the media client extracted from in-band metadata received by the media client with the media stream;
• using by the server the received identifier of the media stream as a basis to obtain reference fingerprints representing the media stream, without a need for the server to search for reference fingerprints that match query fingerprints representing the media stream being processed by the media client;
• and
• using by the server the obtained reference fingerprints as a basis to determine a point in the media stream when the media client should perform a content-related action;
• and
• directing by the server the media client to perform at the determined point the content-related action.