System and method for identifying and segmenting repeating media objects embedded in a stream

A system for locating and identifying media objects within a media stream comprising:

• a device for storing at least one media stream on a computer readable storage device;
• a device for computing parametric information for at least one portion of each media stream, and storing the parametric information in an object database;
• a device for analyzing the parametric information to determine whether the parametric information corresponds to a class of sought media objects;
• a device for flagging each portion of each media stream having parametric information that corresponds to a class of sought media objects as a possible object;
• a device for searching the object database to locate potentially matching possible objects;
• a device for comparing at least two potentially matching possible objects to determine whether any possible objects represent repeat instances of a media object by comparing low-dimensional versions of portions of the media stream centered on a location of each potentially matching possible object to determine whether any of the portions represent a repeat instance of a media object;
• and
• a device for locating media objects in each media stream by characterizing any repeat instances of a media object as an identified media object.

A computer-implemented process for locating media objects in a media stream and determining temporal endpoints for each media object, comprising using a computing device to:

• compute characteristic information for at least one segment of a media stream;
• analyze the characteristic information to determine whether a media object is possibly present within any segment of the media stream;
• storing the location and characteristic information of any segment of the media stream in an object database when the analysis of the characteristic information indicates that at least part of a media object is possibly present within that segment of the media stream;
• querying the object database to locate potentially matching segments of the media stream;
• comparing potentially matching segments of the media stream to identify repeating segments within the media stream;
• and
• automatically aligning and comparing portions of the media stream centered on each repeating segment of the media stream to determine temporal endpoints for each media object in the media stream, wherein the temporal endpoints for each media object represent start and end points of each media object.

A method for determining extents of repeating media objects within a media stream, comprising using a computer to:

• select a segment of a media stream for comparison;
• compare the selected segment to the media stream to identify segments in the media stream having at least one portion which matches at least one portion of the selected segment of the media stream;
• align the selected segment and the matching segments, and compare a portion of the media stream centered on a location of each matching segment to a portion of the media stream centered on a location of the selected segment;
• and
• determine extents of media objects represented by the selected segment and the matching segments by using the alignment and comparison of the selected segment and the matching segments to identify endpoints of the media objects at locations where the aligned segments are no longer approximately equivalent.

A computer-implemented process for determining positions of repeating media objects within at least one media stream, comprising using a computing device:

• selecting at least one evaluation segment from the at least one media stream;
• searching an object database to determine if the at least one evaluation segment at least partially represents a repeating media object matching any objects in the object database;
• in the event that the search of the object database determines that the at least one evaluation segment does not at least partially represent a repeating media object matching any objects in the object database, determining whether the evaluation segment and at least one comparison segment at least partially represent a repeating media object by sequentially comparing the at least one evaluation segment to subsequent comparison segments of the at least one media stream to identify comparison segments of the at least one media stream that at least partially match the at least one evaluation segment;
• wherein sequentially comparing the at least one evaluation segment to subsequent comparison segments further comprises comparing a portion of the media stream centered on a location of each comparison segment to a portion of the media stream centered on a location of each evaluation segment;
• and
• determining positions of any repeating media object at least partially represented by any segments of the at least one media stream.

A system for locating repeating media objects within a media stream, comprising:

• a device for selecting a portion of the media stream;
• a device for sequentially comparing the selected portion to subsequent portions of the media stream to identify portions of the media stream that at least partially match the selected portion;
• and
• a device for determining locations within the media stream of repeating media objects represented by the at least partially matching portions of the media stream by comparing a portion of the media stream centered on a location of each partially matching portion of the media stream to a portion of the media stream centered on a location of the selected portion of the media stream to determine the location of each of the repeating media objects.

A method for extracting repeating media objects from a media stream, comprising using a computer to:

• select an evaluation segment of a media stream for comparison;
• sequentially compare the selected evaluation segment to subsequent segments of the media stream to determine whether any of the sequential subsequent segments of the media stream have any portions which at least partially match any portion of the selected evaluation segment;
• after comparing all subsequent segments in a predetermined length of the media stream, determining endpoints of repeating media objects which are determined to exist within the media stream whenever any of the sequential subsequent segments of the media stream have any portions which at least partially match any portion of the selected evaluation segment;
• and
• wherein determining endpoints of repeating media objects further comprises automatically aligning and comparing portions of the media stream centered on the evaluation segment and each partially matching subsequent segment of the media stream to determine the endpoints for each repeating media object.