Broadcast program identification method and system

A system for identifying certain programs broadcast by a broadcasting station, wherein at least one predetermined and readily identifiable signalling event occurs in conjunction with the broadcast of ones of said programs, said system comprising:

• means for generating a digital reference feature set from ones of said programs by a transformation of at least one segment of a said program's analog signal content, said segment beginning at a predetermined time with reference to one of said signalling events and being of a predetermined duration, each said reference feature set being associated with a program label code identifying the program from which said reference feature set was derived;
• means for storing said reference feature sets and said program label codes;
• means for detecting the presence of said signalling events within the broadcast signal of said broadcasting station;
• means activated by said detecting means for generating a digital broadcast feature set from ones of said programs broadcast by said broadcasting station, said broadcast feature set being generated by said transformation of at least one segment of the analog broadcast signal content, said segment beginning at a predetermined time with reference to one of said signalling events and being of a predetermined duration;
• means for comparing at least one said broadcast feature set with at least one said reference feature set stored in said storage means;
• and
• means for deciding when the similarity between a said broadcast feature set and a reference feature set meets a predetermined standard for identification of the broadcast program represented by said broadcast feature set by the program label code associated with said reference feature set.

A system for identifying certain programs transmitted by broadcasting stations, wherein at least one predetermined and readily identifiable signalling event occurs in conjunction with the broadcast of ones of said programs, said system comprising:

• a plurality of monitoring units each capable of receiving broadcasts from at least one of said broadcasting stations, each monitoring unit including means for detecting said signalling events, each monitoring unit further including means responsive to said detecting means for generating a digital broadcast feature set from ones of said programs broadcast by said broadcasting station, said broadcast feature set being generated by a transformation of at least one segment of the analog broadcast signal content, said segment beginning at a predetermined time with reference to one of said signalling events and being of a predetermined duration, said monitoring unit further including means for storing said broadcast feature sets;
• a central office facility including means for selectively communicating with ones of said monitoring units and for retrieving the information stored in said storage means;
• means associated with said central office facility for generating a digital reference feature set from ones of said programs by said transformation of at least one segment of a said program's analog signal content, said segment beginning at said predetermined time with reference to one of said signalling events and being of said predetermined duration, each said reference feature set being associated with a label code identifying the program from which said reference feature set was derived;
• means associated with said central office facility for storing ones of said reference feature sets and said program label codes;
• means associated with said central office facility for comparing at least one said broadcast feature set with at least one said reference feature set to produce a recognition output when the degree of similarity between a broadcast feature set and a reference feature set meets a predetermined standard, thereby identifying the broadcast program from which said broadcast feature set was derived by the label code associated with said reference feature set.

A system for identifying certain programs transmitted by broadcasting stations, wherein at least one predetermined and readily identifiable signalling event occurs in conjunction with the broadcast of ones of said programs, said system comprising:

• a plurality of monitoring units each capable of receiving broadcasts from at least one of said broadcasting stations, each said monitoring unit including means for detecting said signalling events, each said monitoring unit further including means responsive to said detecting means for generating a digital broadcast feature set from ones of said programs broadcast by said broadcasting station, said broadcast feature set being generated by a transformation of at least one segment of the analog broadcast signal content, said segment beginning at a predetermined time with reference to one of said signalling events and being of a predetermined duration, each said monitoring unit further incuding means for storing said broadcast feature sets;
• a set of digital reference feature sets stored in said storage means in ones of said monitoring units, each said reference feature set having been generated from one of said programs by said transformation of at least one segment of a said program's analog signal content, said segment beginning at said predetermined time with reference to one of said signalling events and being of said predetermined duration, each said reference feature set being associated with a label code identifying the program from which said reference feature set was derived;
• means associated with ones of said monitoring units for comparing at least one said broadcast feature set with at least one said reference feature set to produce a recognition output when the degree of similarity between a broadcast feature set and a reference feature set meets a predetermined standard, thereby identifying the broadcast program from which said broadcast feature set was derived by the label code associated with said reference feature set.

A system for identifying certain programs transmitted by broadcasting stations, wherein at least one predetermined and readily identifiable signalling event occurs in conjunction with the broadcast of ones of said programs, said system comprising:

• a plurality of monitoring units, each capable of receiving the broadcasts of at least one of said broadcasting stations, each monitoring unit including means for recording at least some of the broadcast signal content from said monitored broadcasting station;
• a central office facility including means for retrieving said recorded broadcast signal content from ones of said monitoring units;
• means associated with said central office facility for detecting the presence within said recorded broadcast signal content of said signalling events;
• means associated with said central office facility and responsive to said detecting means for generating a digital broadcast feature set from ones of said programs broadcast by said broadcasting stations and recorded by said monitoring units, said broadcast feature set being generated by a transformation of at least one segment of the analog broadcast signal content, said segment beginning at a predetermined time with reference to one of said signalling events and being of a predetermined duration;
• means associated with said central office facility for generating a digital reference feature set from ones of said certain programs by said transformation of at least one segment of a said program's analog signal content, said segment beginning at said predetermined time with reference to one of said signalling events and being of said predetermined duration, each said reference feature set being associated with a label code identifying the program from which said reference feature set was derived;
• means associated with said central office facility for comparing at least one said broadcast feature set with at least one said reference feature set to produce a recognition output when the degree of similarity between a broadcast feature set and a reference feature set meets a predetermined standard, thereby identifying the broadcast program from which said broadcast feature set was derived by the label code associated with said reference feature set.