Method for high-throughput identification of distributed broadcast content

A method of identifying content within a data stream comprising:

• receiving a content identification query from a client device, the content identification query requesting an identity of content being broadcast from a broadcast source and including information pertaining to the broadcast source of the content;
• accessing a cache including a listing of content identifications that were each generated using a content sample, the listing including information pertaining to identity of content broadcast from a plurality of broadcast sources and each item in the listing including (i) an identity of given content, (ii) an identity of a given broadcast source that broadcast the given content, and (iii) an indication of when the content identification is valid;
• matching the broadcast source of the content to a broadcast source of one of the content samples from which any of the content identifications were generated;
• and
• if the content identification query was received during a time in which the content identification in the listing pertaining to the one of the content samples is still valid, sending the content identification in the listing pertaining to the one of the content samples to the client device in response to the content identification query.

A method of identifying content within a data stream comprising:

• receiving a first content identification query from a first client device, the first content identification query including a recording of a sample of content being broadcast from a first source;
• making a content identification using the sample of the content;
• determining a time during which the content will be broadcast from the first source;
• storing the content identification, the time, and information pertaining to the first source of the content in a cache;
• receiving a second content identification query from a second client device, the second content identification query requesting an identity of content being broadcast from a second source and including information pertaining to the second source of the content;
• and
• if the first source and the second source are the same and if the time has not expired, (i) sending the content identification made in response to the first content identification query to the second client device in response to the second content identification query, and if not, (ii) making a second content identification using a sample of the content being broadcast from the second source and storing the second content identification in the cache.

A method of identifying content within a data stream being broadcast from broadcast sources and determining coverage areas of the broadcast sources comprising:

• receiving content identification queries from client devices requesting an identity of content that was broadcast from a broadcast source, each content identification query including a sample of the content, a broadcast frequency of the broadcast source, and information pertaining to a location of the client devices;
• making an identification of the samples of the content;
• determining a time interval of validity of the identification of the samples of the content, wherein the time interval of validity indicates a time during which the identification of the sample will be valid as being broadcast from the broadcast source;
• for content identification queries received (i) including the same broadcast frequency, (ii) having a temporal overlapping time interval of validity, and (iii) for which the identification of the sample of the content matches, associating locations of the client devices within the content identification queries to be within a coverage area of a given broadcast source that broadcasts using the broadcast frequency;
• and
• estimating a coverage area for the given broadcast source using the associated locations.