Systems and methods for identifying a source of media content based on a log of fingerprints

A system for determining a source of content that a user is presently consuming, the system comprising:

• communications circuitry;
• and
• control circuitry configured to:
• periodically store, in a log of fingerprints, a fingerprint generated based on media content that the user is consuming at a given time;
• transmit, to a server using the communications circuitry, a request to identify a content source corresponding to a media asset, wherein the media asset is consumed by the user at a first time, and wherein the request comprises a fingerprint of the media asset generated at the first time;
• receive, from the server using the communications circuitry, a first content source identifier, and a second content source identifier, wherein the first content source identifier and the second content source identifier correspond to a first content source and a second content source, respectively, that are both transmitting the media asset at the first time;
• transmit, to the server using the communications circuitry, a request for a first plurality of fingerprints generated based on content transmitted by the first content source and a second plurality of fingerprints generated based on content transmitted by the second content source;
• in response to receiving the first plurality of fingerprints and the second plurality of fingerprints, match each fingerprint from the first plurality of fingerprints with a fingerprint from the second plurality of fingerprints to create a plurality of matched pairs of fingerprints, wherein the matching is performed based on a time the respective fingerprints were generated;
• iterate through each matched pair of fingerprints in reverse chronological order until a first fingerprint from the first plurality of fingerprints diverges from a second fingerprint from the second plurality of fingerprints, wherein the iterating comprises comparing each fingerprint from the first plurality of fingerprints with a matched fingerprint from the second plurality of fingerprints;
• compare the first fingerprint from the first plurality of fingerprints to a contemporaneous fingerprint stored in the log of fingerprints and compare the second fingerprint from the second plurality of fingerprints to the contemporaneous fingerprint stored in the log of fingerprints to determine whether the first fingerprint from the first plurality of fingerprints or the second fingerprint from the second plurality of fingerprints matches the contemporaneous fingerprint from the log of fingerprints;
• and
• determine whether the first content source or the second content source is a source of content that the user is presently consuming based on whether the first fingerprint from the first plurality of fingerprints or the second fingerprint from the second plurality of fingerprints matches the contemporaneous fingerprint from the log of fingerprints.