US 7,065,544 B2 · System and method for detecting repetitions in a multimedia stream

Abstract

Large amounts of multimedia data are transmitted over information networks in the form of a digital stream, analog video, or text captioning. Often, repetitions such as paid advertisements, theme music at the commencement of a TV broadcast, and common jingles and slogans occur in these streams. Detection of repetitions in a transmitted signal such as streaming audio or video is described, and includes extracting a plurality of samples from the information stream and accumulating the samples into segments comprising an interval of the transmitted signal. A vector indicative of the samples in each of the segments is generated, and each of the vectors in the segments is correlated to generate a covariance matrix, or signature, corresponding to the segment. Each of the covariance matrices are aggregated into a sequence of covariance matrices and compared to other covariance matrices to generate a distance matrix. The distance matrix includes a distance value, indicative of the similarity between the distance matrices, as a result of the comparing of each matrix. The distance matrix is then traversed to determine similar sequences of covariance matrices.

Claims28

Dependent claims

A method of matching sequences of signals from an information stream comprising:

extracting a stream of samples from a subject information stream, each of the extracted samples comprising a portion of the information stream;
computing, for each of the samples, a vector quantity indicative of the data in the sample;
correlating the vectors to generate a signature indicative of the stream of samples;
comparing the generated signatures to signatures generated from a match stream of samples using a distance metric to generate distance values;
generating, as a result of the comparing, a distance matrix containing entries of the distance values and indicative of signatures generated from similar samples;
traversing the distance matrix to determine if a similar distance value sequence is found;
querying, when a similar distance value sequence is found in the distance matrix, a library of previously found distance value sequences;
storing the distance value sequence in the library if a match is not found as a result of the querying;
updating, if a match is found as a result of the querying, a timestamp corresponding to the matching distance value sequence in the library;
traversing the distance value sequences in the library;
examining each of the timestamps of the distance value sequences;
and
purging, when the timestamp is beyond a predetermined threshold, the distance value sequence corresponding to the timestamp.

10 more elements

A method of detecting repetitions in an information stream comprising:

providing an information stream of multimedia data corresponding to a transmitted signal;
extracting a plurality of samples from the information stream;
accumulating the samples into segments comprising a predetermined interval of the transmitted signal;
generating respective vectors indicative of the samples in each of the segments;
for each segment, correlating the vectors in the segments to generate a respective covariance matrix corresponding to the segment;
aggregating each of the covariance matrices corresponding to the segments into a sequence of covariance matrices;
comparing each of the covariance matrices in the sequence with each other covariance matrix in the sequence to generate a distance matrix;
traversing the distance matrix to determine if a similar distance value sequence is found;
querying, when a similar distance value sequence is found in the distance matrix, a library of previously found distance value sequences;
storing the distance value sequence in the library if a match is not found as a result of the querying;
updating, if a match is found as a result of the querying, a timestamp corresponding to the matching distance value sequence in the library;
traversing the distance value sequences in the library;
examining each of the timestamps of the distance value sequences;
and
purging, when the timestamp is beyond a predetermined threshold, the distance value sequence corresponding to the timestamp.

12 more elements

A system for detecting repetitions in an information stream comprising:

a stream processor operable to extract a stream of samples from the subject information stream and further operable to arrange the samples into a plurality of segments, each of the samples comprising a portion of the information stream;
a segment processor operable to receive the segments and to compute, for each sample in the segments, a vector indicative of the data in the sample;
a correlator operable to correlate each of the vectors in at least one of the segments to generate a signature indicative of the segment;
a distance processor responsive to the correlator and operable to compare the signature to signatures generated from a match stream of samples using a distance metric to generate distance values, and further operable to generate, as a result of the comparing, a distance matrix containing entries of the distance values and indicative of signatures generated from similar samples in the match stream;
means for traversing the distance matrix to determine if a similar distance value sequence is found;
means for querying, when a similar distance value sequence is found in the distance matrix, a library of previously found distance value sequences;
means for storing the distance value sequence in the library if a match is not found as a result of the querying;
means for updating, if a match is found as a result of the querying, a timestamp corresponding to the matching distance value sequence in the library;
means for traversing the distance value sequences in the library;
means for examining each of the timestamps of the distance value sequences;
and
means for purging, when the timestamp is beyond a predetermined threshold, the distance value sequence corresponding to the timestamp.

9 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

System and method for detecting repetitions in a multimedia stream

Life of this patent

System and method for detecting repetitions in a multimedia stream

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims28