Determining Popularity Ratings Using Social and Interactive Applications for Mass Media

Abstract

Systems, methods, devices, and computer program products provide social and interactive applications for mass media based on real time ambient-audio and/or video identification. In some implementations, a method includes: receiving descriptors identifying ambient audio associated with a media broadcast; comparing the descriptors to one or more reference descriptors; and determining a rating for the media broadcast based at least in part on the results of the comparison.

1 . A method, comprising:
 receiving, by a computing device, user input to capture one or more ambient audio snippets of media played proximate to the computing device;   causing the computing device to capture the one or more ambient audio snippets of the media, in response to the user input;   encoding, by the computing device, the one or more ambient audio snippets that are captured;   sending, by the computing device, the one or more encoded ambient audio snippets to a server;   receiving, by the server, the one or more encoded ambient audio snippets from the computing device;   matching, by the server, at least one of the one or more encoded ambient audio snippets with at least one of a plurality of pre-stored audio fingerprints to obtain information descriptive of the media;   sending, by the server, the information descriptive of the media, to the computing device; and   causing the information descriptive of the media to be displayed on a user interface of the computing device.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising determining, by the server, popularity of the media based, in part, on the matching of the at least one of the one or more encoded ambient audio snippets. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the media include at least one of a piece of music, a television show, and a movie, and wherein the at least one of the pre-stored audio fingerprints correspond to the at least one of the piece of music, the television show, and the movie. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising, determining an identification of the media, based at least in part on the matched at least one of the one or more encoded audio snippets, and wherein the information descriptive of the media includes an identification of the media. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the one or more encoded ambient audio snippets are insufficient to recover the media. 
     
     
         6 . A method, comprising:
 receiving, by a computing device, user input to capture one or more ambient audio snippets of media played in an environment of a client device;   capturing, by the computing device, the one or more ambient audio snippets of the media, in response, at least in part, to the user input;   encoding, by the computing device, the one or more ambient audio snippets that are captured;   sending, by the computing device, the one or more encoded ambient audio snippets to a server, for matching at least one of the one or more encoded ambient audio snippets with at least one of a plurality of pre-stored audio fingerprints to obtain information descriptive of the media;   receiving, by the computing device, the information descriptive of the media from the server; and   causing the information descriptive of the media to be displayed on a user interface of the computing device.   
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein the user interface enables a user of the computing device to share the information descriptive of the media, with one or more other users. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein the one or more encoded ambient audio snippets are insufficient to recover the media. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein the media is at least one of a television show, movie, music, and video, and the information descriptive of the media includes one or more of a title and an episode number of the media. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein the user input is initiated by user activation of a control element of the user interface. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein the capturing is further in response to detecting a triggering event, by the computing device. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the triggering event includes at least one of music and talk indicative of the media. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein the capturing is scheduled for at least one of a particular date, time, and duration. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein the capturing is performed by using a microphone of the computing device. 
     
     
         15 . A system, comprising:
 one or more processors, and   one or more non-transitory computer-readable media having instructions stored thereon that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause performance of operations comprising:
 receiving user input to capture one or more ambient audio snippets of media played in an environment of the system; 
 capturing the one or more ambient audio snippets of the media, in response to the user input; 
 encoding the one or more ambient audio snippets that are captured; 
 sending the one or more encoded ambient audio snippets to a server, for matching at least one of the one or more encoded ambient audio snippets with at least one of a plurality of pre-stored audio fingerprints to obtain information descriptive of the media; 
 receiving the information descriptive of the media from the server; and 
 causing the information descriptive of the media to be displayed on a user interface of the system. 
   
     
     
         16 . The system of  claim 15 , wherein the user interface enables a user of the system to share the information descriptive of the media, with one or more other users. 
     
     
         17 . The system of  claim 15 , wherein the one or more encoded ambient audio snippets are insufficient to recover the media. 
     
     
         18 . The system of  claim 15 , wherein the media is at least one of a television show, movie, music, and video, and the information descriptive of the media includes one or more of a title and an episode number of the media. 
     
     
         19 . The system of  claim 15 , wherein the user input is initiated by user activation of a control element of the user interface. 
     
     
         20 . The system of  claim 15 , wherein the capturing is further in response to detecting a triggering event, by the system. 
     
     
         21 . The system of  claim 20 , wherein the triggering event includes at least one of music and talk indicative of the media. 
     
     
         22 . The system of  claim 15 , wherein the capturing is scheduled for at least one of a particular date, time and duration. 
     
     
         23 . The system of  claim 15 , wherein the capturing is performed using a microphone of the system. 
     
     
         24 . A method, comprising:
 receiving, by a computing device, a user input to capture one or more ambient audio snippets of a media played in an environment associated with a client device;   capturing, by the computing device, the one or more ambient audio snippets of the media, in response to the user input;   encoding, by the computing device, the one or more ambient audio snippets that are captured;   sending, by the computing device, the one or more encoded ambient audio snippets to a server for matching at least one of the one or more encoded ambient audio snippets, with at least one of a plurality of pre-stored audio fingerprints to obtain a matched audio snippet;   receiving, by the computing device, a request to share a representation of the media with one or more users, wherein the representation is based on the matched audio snippet; and   transmitting, by the computing device, instructions to cause sharing of the representation of the media with the one or more users.   
     
     
         25 . The method of  claim 24 , wherein the representation is a portion of the media that is of a pre-defined length. 
     
     
         26 . The method of  claim 24 , wherein the representation is similar to the one or more ambient audio snippets of the media. 
     
     
         27 . The method of  claim 24 , wherein sharing of the representation of the media includes sharing a link to the representation of the media with the one or more users. 
     
     
         28 . The method of  claim 24 , wherein the instructions to cause sharing of the representation of the media further include instructions to cause sharing of a user comment related to the media. 
     
     
         29 . The method of  claim 24 , wherein a user of the computing device and the one or more users are part of a same social network. 
     
     
         30 . The method of  claim 29 , wherein the transmitting of the instructions to cause sharing causes at least the part of the representation of the media to be provided on a platform associated with the same social network.