Multi-step sequence alignment

A system comprising:

• a memory;
• and
• a processing device, coupled to the memory, to:
• identify a first plurality of fingerprints representative of content segments of variable duration for a first media item and a second plurality of fingerprints representative of content segments of variable duration for a second media item;
• compare a first group of the first plurality of fingerprints to a second group of the second plurality of fingerprints to generate a first similarity score indicative of a similarity between the first group of fingerprints and the second group of fingerprints, wherein the first group of fingerprints comprises at least two fingerprints representative of at least two content segments of variable duration of the first media item, and the second group of fingerprints comprises at least one fingerprint representative of at least one content segment of variable duration of the second media item wherein comparing the first group of the first plurality of fingerprints to the second group of the second plurality of fingerprints comprises comparing a ratio between a duration of content segments associated with the first group of fingerprints and a duration of content segments associated with the second group of fingerprints to a duration threshold;
• and
• determine an alignment score for the first plurality of fingerprints and the second plurality of fingerprints using the first similarity score, wherein the alignment score is indicative of a probability that the first media item is similar to the second media item.

A non-transitory computer readable medium that stores instruction that, responsive to being executed by a processing device, cause the processing device to perform operations comprising:

• identifying a first plurality of fingerprints representative of content segments of variable duration for a first media item and a second plurality of fingerprints representative of content segments of variable duration for a second media item;
• comparing, by the processing device, a first group of the first plurality of fingerprints to a second group of the second plurality of fingerprints to generate a first similarity score indicative of a similarity between the first group of fingerprints and the second group of fingerprints, wherein the first group of fingerprints comprises at least two fingerprints representative of at least two content segments of variable duration of the first media item, and the second group of fingerprints comprises at least one fingerprint representative of at least one content segment of variable duration of the second media item wherein comparing the first group of the first plurality of fingerprints to the second group of the second plurality of fingerprints comprises comparing a ratio between a duration of content segments associated with the first group of fingerprints and a duration of content segments associated with the second group of fingerprints to a duration threshold;
• and
• determining an alignment score for the first plurality of fingerprints and the second plurality of fingerprints using the first similarity score, wherein the alignment score is indicative of a probability that the first media item is similar to the second media item.