Method and Apparatus for Automatic Detection and Identification of Unidentified Broadcast Audio or Video Signals

Abstract

A system and method of detecting unidentified broadcast electronic media content using a self-similarity technique is presented. The process and system catalogues repeated instances of content that has not be positively identified, but are sufficiently similar as to infer repetitive broadcasts. These catalogued instances may be further processed on the basis of different broadcast channels, sources, geographic locations of broadcasts or format to further assist the identification thereof.

1 . A method executed by a digital signal processing system for detecting at least two substantially similar instances of the same piece of unregistered program in one or more broadcast signals comprising:
 periodically detecting whether two or more unregistered portions of said one or more broadcast signals is sufficiently self-similar.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising detecting one or more sufficiently similar sets of pattern vectors, wherein each set corresponds to one of the one or more unregistered portions. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2  further comprising assigning an identification number to one or more of the sets of pattern vectors detected. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising determining whether the piece of unregistered program is substantially the same as a registered piece of programming and then changing an indicia of identity associated with the unregistered program to an indicia of identity associated with the registered program. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 4  further comprising converting an identification number assigned to the piece of unregistered program to an identification number corresponding to the registered piece of programming. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising:
 identifying a piece of unregistered programming in which sufficient similarities have been detected between a piece of registered programming and said piece of unregistered programming; and   converting the status of said identified piece of unregistered programming from unregistered to registered.   
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the two or more unregistered portions of one of said one or more broadcast signals are substantially non-overlapping in time. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein each of said unregistered portions of said one or more broadcast signals comprises one or more frames in duration. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein the duration is approximately 10 seconds. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein the duration is less than approximately 10 seconds. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 2  further comprising storing in computer memory at least one of said sets of pattern vectors. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 2  further comprising comparing the audio quality of said sets of pattern vectors. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 12  further comprising storing in computer memory a set of pattern vectors determined to have relatively better audio quality than other sufficiently similar sets of pattern vectors. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising storing in computer memory an indicia of identity associated with the unregistered program. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising storing in computer memory one of: an approximate start time, an approximate end time, and an approximate duration time of said two or more of the self-similar unregistered portions. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising storing in computer memory the broadcast source information of the one or more broadcast signals over which said two or more unregistered portions are broadcast. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising adjusting the duration of said unregistered portions for decreasing the detection time of self-similarities in the one or more broadcast signals. 
     
     
         18 . A method executed by a digital signal processing system for detecting self-similar repetition in a broadcast signal comprising:
 detecting a thread comprising a sequence of one or more portions of a first unregistered piece of programming, where each consecutive portion of the first unregistered piece is determined to be sufficiently similar to a corresponding substantially consecutive portion of a second unregistered piece of unregistered programming.   
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 18  further comprising:
 storing in computer memory as a single piece of programming the consecutive sequence of sufficiently similar portions where for each portion, the audio quality is determined to be better than the other corresponding sufficiently similar consecutive portion.   
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 18 , wherein the step of determining to be sufficiently self-similar comprises detecting sufficiently similar sets of pattern vectors associated with each of the consecutive portions. 
     
     
         21 . The method of  claim 18  further comprising assigning a unique identification number to one or more sets of pattern vectors that comprise the portions. 
     
     
         22 . The method of  claim 18  further comprising:
 determining the end of the thread by detecting one or more insufficiently similar portions of the first piece as compared to the corresponding portions of the second piece.   
     
     
         23 . The method of  claim 18  where the first piece and the second piece do not substantially overlap. 
     
     
         24 . The method of  claim 22 , wherein the number of detections of insufficient similarity is a number greater than a predetermined threshold. 
     
     
         25 . The method of  claim 22  further comprising determining one of an approximate start time, approximate end time and approximate duration time corresponding to the thread. 
     
     
         26 . The method of  claim 18  further comprising:
 identifying a piece of unregistered programming in which sufficient similarities have been detected between a piece of registered programming and said piece of unregistered programming; and   converting the status of said identified piece of unregistered programming from unregistered to registered.   
     
     
         27 . The method of  claim 18  further comprising determining whether the piece of unregistered program is substantially the same as a registered piece of programming and then changing an indicia of identity associated with the unregistered program to an indicia of identity associated with the registered program. 
     
     
         28 . The method of  claim 18 , wherein each of said portions comprises one or more frames in duration. 
     
     
         29 . The method of  claim 18  where each of said portions is equal to or less than approximately 10 seconds. 
     
     
         30 . A method executed by a digital signal processing system for detecting self-similar repetition in a broadcast signal comprising:
 detecting insufficient self-similarities between two non-overlapping pieces of unregistered programming of a broadcast signal by determining the number of pairs of insufficiently self-similar corresponding portions from each of the two pieces of unregistered programming, wherein said pairs of insufficiently self-similar corresponding portions substantially succeed a substantial number of substantially consecutive pairs of sufficiently self-similar corresponding portions.   
     
     
         31 . The method of  claim 30  further comprising detecting insufficiently similar sets of pattern vectors associated with each of the two unregistered corresponding portions of the broadcast signal. 
     
     
         32 . The method of  claim 30  further comprising assigning a unique identification number to one or more sets of pattern vectors that comprise each of the corresponding portions. 
     
     
         33 . The method of  claim 30  further comprising:
 accumulating a thread of portions determined to be sufficiently self-similar, wherein each accumulated portion is uniquely selected from each of said pairs of sufficient self-similar corresponding portions; and   accumulating a thread of said selected portions, wherein the portions are ordered sequentially in time according to the relative order of the pair from which the portion was selected.   
     
     
         34 . The method of  claim 30  further comprising determining one of an approximate start time, approximate end time and approximate duration time corresponding to the thread. 
     
     
         36 . The method of  claim 33 , wherein the portion selected is selected for having at least relatively better quality. 
     
     
         37 . The method of  claim 30 , wherein said sufficient number comprises a number greater than a predetermined threshold. 
     
     
         38 . The method of  claim 30  further comprising:
 identifying a piece of unregistered programming in which sufficient similarities have been detected between a piece of registered programming and said piece of unregistered programming; and   converting the status of said identified piece of unregistered programming from unregistered to registered.   
     
     
         39 . The method of  claim 30  further comprising determining whether the piece of unregistered program is substantially the same as a registered piece of programming and then changing an indicia of identity associated with the unregistered program to an indicia of identity associated with the registered program. 
     
     
         40 . The method of  claim 30 , wherein each of said portions comprises one or more frames in duration. 
     
     
         41 . A digital signal processing system for detecting at least two substantially similar instances of the same piece of unregistered program in one or more broadcast signals comprising:
 a detection means adapted for periodically detecting whether two or more unregistered portions of said one or more broadcast signals is sufficiently self-similar.   
     
     
         42 . The system of  claim 42 , wherein said detection means is further adapted for detecting one or more sufficiently similar sets of pattern vectors, wherein each set corresponds to one of the one or more unregistered portions. 
     
     
         43 . The system of  claim 42  further comprising:
 a processor adapted for assigning an identification number to one or more of the sets of pattern vectors detected.   
     
     
         44 . The system of  claim 41  further comprising:
 a processor adapted for determining whether the piece of unregistered program is substantially the same as a registered piece of programming and then changing an indicia of identity associated with the unregistered program to an indicia of identity associated with the registered program.   
     
     
         45 . The system of  claim 44 , wherein said processor is further adapted for converting an identification number assigned to the piece of unregistered program to an identification number corresponding to the registered piece of programming. 
     
     
         46 . The system of  claim 41  further comprising:
 a processor adapted for identifying a piece of unregistered programming in which sufficient similarities have been detected between a piece of registered programming and said piece of unregistered programming; and   converting the status of said identified piece of unregistered programming from unregistered to registered.   
     
     
         47 . The system of  claim 41 , wherein the two or more unregistered portions of one of said one or more broadcast signals are substantially non-overlapping in time. 
     
     
         48 . The system of  claim 41 , wherein each of said unregistered portions of said one or more broadcast signals comprises one or more frames in duration. 
     
     
         49 . The system of  claim 48 , wherein the duration is approximately 10 seconds. 
     
     
         50 . The system of  claim 48 , wherein the duration is less than approximately 10 seconds. 
     
     
         51 . The system of  claim 42  further comprising a computer memory adapted for storing at least one of said sets of pattern vectors. 
     
     
         52 . A digital signal processing system for detecting self-similar repetition in a broadcast signal comprising:
 a detection means adapted for detecting a thread comprising a sequence of one or more portions of a first unregistered piece of programming, where each consecutive portion of the first unregistered piece is determined to be sufficiently similar to a corresponding substantially consecutive portion in a second unregistered piece of unregistered programming.   
     
     
         53 . The system of  claim 52  further comprising:
 a processor adapted for identifying a piece of unregistered programming in which sufficient similarities have been detected between a piece of registered programming and said piece of unregistered programming; and   converting the status of said identified piece of unregistered programming from unregistered to registered.   
     
     
         54 . The system of  claim 52  further comprising:
 a processor adapted for determining whether the piece of unregistered program is substantially the same as a registered piece of programming and then changing an indicia of identity associated with the unregistered program to an indicia of identity associated with the registered program.   
     
     
         55 . A digital signal processing system for detecting self-similar repetition in a broadcast signal comprising:
 detection means adapted for detecting insufficient self-similarities between two non-overlapping pieces of unregistered programming of a broadcast signal by determining the number of pairs of insufficiently self-similar corresponding portions from each of the two pieces of unregistered programming, wherein said pairs of insufficiently self-similar corresponding portions substantially succeed a substantial number of substantially consecutive pairs of sufficiently self-similar corresponding portions.   
     
     
         56 . The system of  claim 55 , wherein the detection means is further adapted for detecting insufficiently similar sets of pattern vectors associated with each of the two unregistered portions of the broadcast signal. 
     
     
         57 . The system of  claim 55  further comprising a processor adapted for assigning a unique identification number to one or more sets of pattern vectors that comprise the portions. 
     
     
         58 . The system of  claim 55  further comprising a processor adapted for selecting a portion from each of said pairs of sufficient self-similar portions; and
 accumulating a thread of said selected portions, wherein the portions are ordered sequentially in time according to the relative order of the pair from which the portion was selected.   
     
     
         59 . The system of  claim 55 , wherein the processor is further adapted for determining one of an approximate start time, approximate end time and approximate duration time corresponding to the thread. 
     
     
         60 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising rendering to a human listener the one or more self-similar unregistered portions.