Patent ID: 9699504
Date: 2017-07-04
CPC Classifications: H04N

Claim:
1. A method for determining a source of content that the user is presently consuming, the method comprising: periodically generating fingerprints based on media content that the user is consuming at a given time; for each generated fingerprint: determining a content identifier, wherein the content identifier corresponds to a respective media asset; and storing, in a log, the content identifier and a timestamp, wherein the timestamp corresponds to a time that the fingerprint was generated; transmitting, to a server, 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 generated at the first time based on the media asset; receiving, from the server, 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; transmitting, to the server, a request for a first plurality of content identifiers and corresponding timestamps and a second plurality of content identifiers and corresponding timestamps, wherein the first plurality of content identifiers and the second plurality of content identifiers correspond to content transmitted by the first content source and by the second content source, respectively; in response to receiving the first plurality of content identifiers and the second plurality of content identifiers, matching each content identifier from the first plurality of content identifiers with a content identifier from the second plurality of content identifiers to create a plurality of matched pairs of content identifiers, wherein the matching is performed based on a timestamp associated with the respective content identifier; iterating through each matched pair of content identifiers in reverse chronological order until a first content identifier from the first plurality of content identifiers diverges from a second content identifier from the second plurality of content identifiers, wherein the iterating comprises comparing each content identifier from the first plurality of content identifiers with a matched content identifier from the second plurality of content identifiers; comparing the first content identifier from the first plurality of content identifiers to a contemporaneous content identifier stored in the log and comparing the second content identifier from the second plurality of content identifiers to the contemporaneous content identifier stored in the log to determine whether the first content identifier from the first plurality of content identifiers or the second content identifier from the second plurality of content identifiers matches the contemporaneous content identifier from the log; and determining 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 content identifier from the first plurality of content identifiers or the second content identifier from the second plurality of content identifiers matches the contemporaneous content identifier from the log.