Digital Artifact Injection for Broadcast Content Verification

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Solution Overview

Problem

Manual processes in radio and television broadcasting lead to human errors in identifying and attributing commercial content, resulting in non-compliance with Insertion Orders and revenue losses, especially in complex systems where multiple stations are owned by a single entity.

Innovation Solution

Automated system that processes digital audio or video files through a computer algorithm to create a data profile, matches it with a master database, and injects a digital artifact for verification, ensuring accurate association and transmission of commercial content as per the Insertion Order.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Ease of operation

If manual processes are used to identify and attribute commercial content, then human operators can perform the task with flexibility, but human error causes misidentification and misattribution of content

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvemanual operation flexibilityVSAvoidcontent identification accuracy

Core Design Contradiction:

Ease of operationVSReliability

Solution Approach 1:

The patent replaces manual mechanical identification processes with an automated digital fingerprinting system. A computer algorithm generates unique digital fingerprints from audio or video content and matches them against a database, eliminating human operators from the content identification process while maintaining flexibility through automated pattern recognition

Inventive Principle:

Principle #28Mechanics substitution (Replace mechanical system)

Solution Approach 2:

The content itself provides the identification information through its digital fingerprint. The system extracts and processes features directly from the media content to create a unique identifier, allowing the content to identify itself without external human intervention or manual metadata assignment

Inventive Principle:

Principle #25Self-service

2Reliability

If automated systems are implemented to process content identification, then human error is reduced, but system complexity increases

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvecontent identification accuracyVSAvoidautomated system complexity

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The automated system is divided into distinct functional modules: a fingerprint generation module that extracts features from content, a database module that stores reference fingerprints, and a matching module that compares fingerprints. This segmentation allows each component to be optimized independently while maintaining overall system reliability

Inventive Principle:

Principle #1Segmentation

Solution Approach 2:

The system transforms complex multimedia content into simplified numerical parameters through digital fingerprinting. By converting audio or video signals into compact fingerprint representations, the system reduces complexity while preserving the essential identifying characteristics needed for accurate matching

Inventive Principle:

Principle #35Parameter changes

3Measurement precision

If digital artifacts are injected into content carriers, then content verification accuracy is improved, but the processing time and computational resources increase

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvecontent verification accuracyVSAvoidprocessing time

Core Design Contradiction:

Measurement precisionVSLoss of time

Solution Approach 1:

The digital fingerprint is generated and injected into the content carrier during the content creation or distribution phase, before the content needs to be verified. This preliminary action ensures that verification can occur quickly later by simply reading the pre-computed fingerprint rather than analyzing the entire content

Inventive Principle:

Principle #10Preliminary action

Solution Approach 2:

The essential identification information is extracted from the full content and embedded as a separate digital artifact. This extracted fingerprint can be processed and verified independently without requiring analysis of the entire media file, significantly reducing verification time while maintaining accuracy

Inventive Principle:

Principle #2Taking out (Extraction)

Data Source

PatentUS8566858B2Method, system and program product for broadcast error protection of content elements utilizing digital artifacts

Publication Date: 2013.10.22 GULA CONSULTING LLC

AI summary

Automatically matching local broadcast station copies of commercial content to previously identified content that is centrally attributed to a unique identification code is provided. A local broadcast station receives digital audio and processes the contents into a data profile of 1,024 bits. The data profile is compared with a master database of other content data profiles until an identical match is found. A corresponding commercial identifier is employed to identify the subject content digital audio file to the station's Broadcast Production System. The determined commercial identifier is injected as a digital artifact into the carrier of the content digital audio file, and associatively stored with the content digital audio file. During the performance process, the appropriate commercial content digital audio file is sequenced by matching the commercial identifier associated with the digital audio file. A verification of an accurate association between the commercial identifier and the content digital audio is performed by reading the digital audio file and extracting the commercial identifier in its digital artifact form from the body of the digital audio file's carrier.